A black swallowtail on a thistle flower. The thistle is to the right in the photo. It has several buds and one open purple flower leaning toward the center that the butterfly is on. There is another thistle to the left with a couple of buds. The swallowtail's body is facing right. It is mostly black with white spots all along its side. The wings are folded up and are also mostly black, but with two rows of white spots on the forewing and two single white spots just above those. The hindwing also has a number of spots. There is a row of orange spots along the outer edge, two white spots just above the tail, a pair of orange spots a little further in, a row of light blue spots, and another row of orange spots next to the blue. The last two rows are curved across the wing.
Black swallowtail. #BlackSwallowtail #PapilioPolyxenes #EasternBlackSwallowtail #AmericanSwallowtil #Swallowtail #Butterfly #Insect #Animal #Nature #Photography #Wisconsin
