Injured Swallowtail In Flight

This article features a selection of images of an injured swallowtail in flight. All were captured handheld in my backyard.

NOTE: Click on images to enlarge.

Olympus OM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko PRO 40-150 mm f/2.8 with M.Zuiko MC-20 teleconverter @ 300 mm, efov 600 mm, f/13, -1 step, 1/1600, ISO-5000

When this injured swallowtail appeared in my backyard, I was in the middle of doing some experimentation with camera settings while photographing bees.

Olympus OM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko PRO 40-150 mm f/2.8 with M.Zuiko MC-20 teleconverter @ 300 mm, efov 600 mm, f/13, -1 step, 1/1600, ISO-5000

Rather than change my camera settings, I just switched subjects and tried to capture as many photographs of the swallowtail as I could. At first I didn’t even realize that it was injured.

Olympus OM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko PRO 40-150 mm f/2.8 with M.Zuiko MC-20 teleconverter @ 220 mm, efov 440 mm, f/13, -1 step, 1/1600, ISO-2500

It wasn’t until I changed my shooting angle that I noticed that its right wing was severely damaged. The injured swallowtail continued feeding at blossoms in my backyard, continually moving from one flower to another.

Olympus OM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko PRO 40-150 mm f/2.8 with M.Zuiko MC-20 teleconverter @ 200 mm, efov 400 mm, f/13, -1 step, 1/1600, ISO-3200

The injured swallowtail only stayed in stayed in my backyard for a few minutes. Before it flitted away I managed to capture a few images of it with my fence serving as the background.

Olympus OM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko PRO 40-150 mm f/2.8 with M.Zuiko MC-20 teleconverter @ 300 mm, efov 600 mm, f/13, -1 step, 1/1600, ISO-5000

When we have a camera in our hands we never know what opportunities will present themselves. All we can do is react as best we can.

Technical Note

Photographs were captured hand-held using camera gear as noted in the EXIF data. Images were produced from RAW files using my standard process.

Olympus OM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko PRO 40-150 mm f/2.8 with M.Zuiko MC-20 teleconverter @ 300 mm, efov 600 mm, f/13, -1 step, 1/1600, ISO-5000

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2 thoughts on “Injured Swallowtail In Flight”

  1. Quite amazing images of the Giant Swallowtail butterfly in flight, especially considering ISO 5000. Gotta love that 40-150 plus the 2x (plus an operator that knows what they are doing)

    1. Hi Jim,

      The swallowtail was fluttering quite rapidly and it wasn’t until I checked some of my images on the rear screen of my camera that I realized it was injured! Thanks for giving the operator the benefit of the doubt 🙂

      Tom

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