Howard County Bird Club
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
Place name abbreviations: MPEA – Middle Patuxent Environment Area; PRSP – Patuxent River State Park; PVSP – Patapsco River Valley State Park.
Click on the common name to obtain additional information from the Butterflies and Moths of North America web page and the following common name for additional information from USGS web page. BugGuide is another web resource.
Legend:
| Common name [Link is to BAMONA] (wingspan range in inches) Common name [link is to USGS] |
Occurrence level & flight period. | |
| Habitat. | Typically visits (for nectaring). | Larval host plants. |
| Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (3.6–6.5″) Eastern Tiger Swallowtail |
Common/Abundant: E-May, Aug | Fields & gardens | Joe-Pye weed, thistles | Tulip popular & wild cherry | |
Male
April 19, 2010
Wincopin Trails
Richard Orr
Male
May 25, 2012
Long Corner
Annette Allor
Male
September 1, 2012
Elkhorn Garden Plots
Richard Orr
Female (yellow form)
April 20, 2012
Wincopin Trail
Annette Allor
Female (dark form)
Ellicott City
July 2, 2012
Kathy Litzinger
Caterpillar
August 17, 2015
Hammond Village
Jo Solem
Caterpillar
August 30, 2013
David Force WMA
Bonnie Ott
Caterpillar
August 16, 2022
Rockburn Branch Park
Bonnie Ott
Eastern Tiger Swallowtails “puddle” to absorb minerals. Any of the swallowtails may “puddle.”)
The Eastern Tiger Swallowtail has a dark morph or form that appears only in the female. The females of both forms have much more blue scaling on the upperside hindwing.
The first photo shows a side-by-side comparison of a dark form female (left) with yellow female (right). You can see that the lower wing iridescent blue is prominent on both butterflies.
The second photo shows a male yellow Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (left) with a female dark individual (right). You can clearly see that the blue scaling on the hindwing is considerably less on the male.
July 29, 2022
Mount Pleasant
Annette Allor
July 29, 2022
Mount Pleasant
Annette Allor
The phenograms show the maximum number of individual butterflies of this species seen in the first eight years of the Howard County Butterfly Survey. From these graphs, one can see the number of broods of each species, when they are active, and the relative abundance of the species in each brood. The observed early and late dates are shown below The graphs can be used to anticipate the first sighting of a given species in the year and can help with identification.
Early: 4/1/2016 Late: 10/15/2020