My Buddy, the Lopsided Swallowtail

This is my little friend, the lopsided Tiger Swallowtail. I've noted three unique tigers this year, they all have different markings and shapes of the stripes, but this one is missing part of it's lower right wing. You have to look really closely, click it to enlarge, but the lower right wing is missing it's distinctive lobe that identifies him as a swallowtail. The left lobe is dark and tends to blend in with the leaves, but it's there. This happy little butterfly has no idea he's not perfect. And for that reason, he's perfect to me. If we all could be as uncaring about the little things and as happy as he is.

He is a totally happy creature, flitting from one zinnia to another, bursting upwards several feet, then catching some air and hovers, then flits back down to another flower. He checks out the cucumber flowers and the tomato flowers and the sunflowers, but seems to prefer the zinnias. I swear I can hear him singing in a Bert Lahr type of voice, "Oh there's a pretty red one, Oh THERE's a pretty yellow one, Oh My, Oh My, There's a pretty orange one, I was just there, Oh I want to try them all, Oh there's another red one..." He didn't even care this morning how many photos of him I took, although I couldn't get too close. Then I swore he sounded like Lahr as the Cowardly Lion, "If I only had some c-c-c-ourage I could try that yellow one near that nosey guy! Oh there's a pretty pink one!"

This is the 'new' part of the yard that was cleared this spring. We've had such a dry summer, that it's apparent that we'll need to reseed in the fall and probably in the spring again to get the grass to come in strongly. I think the lawn is probably cut too often for the weather conditions, but the landscapers have to eat too. They just cut the lawn and trim the large shrubs, I take care of all of the flowerbeds and potted plants.