Spotting a bright-yellow Western Tigar swallow tail soaring through the landscape is sure to brighten anyone’s day.  Happy, it’s a common and livery visitor to western gardens, urban areas and parklands. It’s  also the swallowtail species people veiw in a large numbers in Rocky Mountain regions.

A native of western North America, the Western tiger swallowtail makes it’s home from British Columbia and Alberta south along the Pacific Coast to Baja California, and east of though the Rocky Mountain states. It ranges into  New Mexico, Arizona, Central Texas, Central  Colorado and western South Dakota, occasionally drifting into Nedbraska.

Here are some facts about them. The wingspan varies from 2-1/4 to 4 inches. They have distinctive markings which is lemon-yellow wings with black tiger stripes and black margins;black margins are  marked with yellow dots and bluelines.  hind wings have blue and orange dots near the black’tails’ There’s a continous blue margin on the undreside of the hind wing. About the habitat. They commonly vist city and Suburban areas and parks where sycamores grow. Generally opts for moist sites. Found in gardens, in canyons, near streams, amidsage brush, on roadsides and trails, and on mesas with creeks.  The caterpiller is 2 inches in length, the blue-spotted light-to dark green caterpillar boasts an enlarged head banded with yellow and black at the neck. Large yellow eyespots on the front of the head are marked with black and blue centers.

The host plants. A wide array of deciduous trees, including sycamore, cottenwood, aspen,willow alder,ash,plum and maple

The females lay a single deep-green egg on the underside of the host plant leaf. In about 4 days, a small blackish capterpillar with a white saddle emerges from the egg. As it grows, it turns green with an enlarged thorax bearing conspicuous eyespots.

Adult butterflies are atteracted to gardens outfitted with water sources for sipping, walkways for basking and flowering plants that supply nectar.

The Western Tiger swallowtail is generally on the move, which allows people to easily observe and enjoy it.