A Scarce Beauty - a photo on Flickriver

A Scarce Beauty

My best photos are here: www.lacerta-bilineata.com/ticino-best-photos-of-southern-...

Scarce Swallowtail (Iphiclides Podalirius), 05-2022, Ticino, Switzerland

More TICINO/TESSIN Wildlife Photos (all taken in my garden in Monteggio/Ti, Switzerland): it.lacerta-bilineata.com/ramarro-occidentale-lacerta-bili... (the website exists in ESPAÑOL, FRANÇAIS, ITALIANO, ENGLISH, DEUTSCH)

My latest ANIMAL VIDEO (warning, it's a bit shocking): www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T2-Xszz7FI

ABOUT THE PHOTO:
Before I get to the photo, I want to apologize sincerely that I haven't reacted to most of the comments I got since January, and I promise I will catch up on that in the weeks to come, and I want everyone to know I'm extremely grateful for all the kind and generous support my photos have received here, and I will never take that for granted. I haven't been very active on Flickr these past few months, and there's two reasons for that.

The first reason is a very positive one, because I've been busy working on my photo website about western green lizards (Lacerta bilineata) and the fauna Ticinese, which is now finally in a place where I'm quite happy with it. The other reason is a bit less positive; I suffer from a condition called "Dupuytren's contraction" which affects my hands. Typing becomes increasingly difficult for me, as the fingers of my left hand have a hard time hitting the correct keys.

This disease (which both my parents have, so there seems to be a genetic component), is not dangerous and especially older people are often affected by it, but it is very annoying, as it slowly makes your fingers contract inwards and eventually turns your hands into "claws" unless you have surgery. I'm a bit unlucky as I already got it in my early thirties; I'm now 45, and sadly it is progressing very rapidly, which makes writing a bit of a chore, especially during the colder months.

I love writing, and I'm still determined to react to every comment, but it will probably take me a bit longer in the future to reply, so I just wanted you to know that this is not due to my natural laziness and tendency for procrastination (or at least not ONLY due to those factors 😉)

With that out of the way, let's talk briefly about the photo ;-)

The scarce swallowtail is a very rare butterfly in Switzerland, but in Ticino it is thankfully still relatively common in the sense that while you won't see it every day, you still do come across it occasionally. Ever since I was a kid and started taking photos with my dad's old Pentax Spotmatic, I wanted to photograph a scarce swallowtail, because I always thought it was one of the most beautiful and exotic looking butterflies (next to the equally rare old world swallowtail it's the only species of swallowtail we have in Switzerland), but I never managed to capture one.

They are not only scarce, but they're also a very nervous bunch and flat-out refuse to sit still on a flower and pose for the desperate photographer who's close to a nervous breakdown. But last year I finally got lucky. I was just preparing lunch, when out of the corner of my eye I detected a fluttering movement in the garden through the kitchen window.

The fluttering was near the lavender (which I had only recently planted after a very unfortunate "sod incident"; a SHOCKING tale you can read all about here: www.flickr.com/photos/191055893@N07/52177556047/in/datepo... ), and I realized right away that this was something bigger than a cabbage butterfly (Pieris brassicae) or a common brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni), which are usually my most frequent guests.

Camera always at the ready, I stormed out of the house and into the garden (and I was probably lucky that I hadn't yet turned the stove on, as I'm sure I would have forgotten all about it and my house would have burned down right behind me without me even noticing it - which would have been quite embarrassing, though not as embarrassing as "death-by-selfie" which I hear is rather popular among millennials 😉 ), and to my great joy it really was my elusive, scarce friend!

And the fella nearly drove me insane: I shot the heck out of Mr Swallowtail who JUST NEVER WOULD SIT STILL! Lemmie tell ya: it was nerve-wrecking! In the olden days of film (remember: 36 photos was usually all you could shoot) I wouldn't have managed to produce a single usable photo. I believe I shot around 400 photos of this scarce beauty, under the bemused eyes of my neighbor, a retired construction worker, who was curious to learn what exactly I was photographing as if my life depended on it.

When I excitedly told him: "This butterfly!" he just said "Oh" with such unconcealed disappointment that it was almost insulting; he gave me a pitiful look and went back into the house (I find I get this reaction quite a lot from my neighbors; in fact, it's mostly the only reaction I get for my photographic endeavors 😂 )

Out of those roughly 400 photos, I ended up with only two usable ones (the other one you find on my website). But I still count myself lucky; there have been many times when I tried to shoot some lovely critter in my garden and out of several hundred photos not even one was of acceptable quality.

Anyway; as always, many greetings to all of you and have a lovely week ahead, and please let me know what you think in the comments below, even if it might take a while until you hear back from me (but I promise you will!!! 🙏 😊 👍❤)

Taken in: Switzerland / Ticino / Monteggio (show map)

Taken on: May 18, 2022

Tags:

Iphiclides podalirius

podalirio

scarce swallowtail

flambé

tessin

ticino

tesino

suiza

switzerland

schweiz

suisse

svizzera

lacerta bilineata

lacerta

bilineata

gogoschka

butterfly

papillon

tagfalter

schmetterling

lepidottero

mariposa

Sony

insect

animal

macro

makro

SONY DSC-RX10M4

Sony DSC-RX10 Mark IV

sony rx10m4

swiss

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Sets appears in: • Swallowtails • Nature more » • Explore: Selected By Flickr Staff (Not By The Algorithm) • Switzerland • Butterflies • Insect Photography • Macro Photography • Sony DSC-RX10M4 « less

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Camera: Sony DSC-RX10M4, 600mm, ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Sony DSC-RX10M4
Focal Length:	600mm
ISO:	100
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Program AE
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	CyberLink PhotoDirector 8 (Windows)
Show full info

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