Encounter with a Butterfly

Ohoopee Dunes, May 2021

Papilio palamedes, Palamedes swallowtail, Ohopee Dunes, May 2021

Under blinding white hot sun, across blinding white hot sand, I explore. A buzzing chorus of unseen prairie warblers and the chirping songs of towhees accompany me. The leaves of turkey oaks twist, mimicking their thin, curving trunks. Holding small white flowers, the delicate stems of sandwort interlace, with tiny white buds decorating loose, lacy fabric like seed pearls. Gopherweed lies nearby, bent flat against the ground as though it has fainted in the heat. Yellow flowers peek out among its leafy tangle, pointed towards the sky.

A flutter of black catches my eye and rests, just a few feet away, in my path. I stop and slowly sink to the ground. When I crossed the Fall Line, I dreamed of this butterfly. Palamedes swallowtail! It is a small bit of darkness, a soft shadow cut out of the sharp brightness, a black shape fluttering on the white sand. Then the fluttering slows, revealing color and pattern. The wings look like someone went wild with craft supplies, bedazzling black velvet with sequins and gems. Rows of wavy shapes border the scalloped hindwings: bright orange, pale yellow, white, and midnight blue. Nearly half of each wing is solid black, interrupted by a broad yellow line, the postmedian band that declares this swallowtail a Palamedes. Even the thorax and abdomen are decorated; longitudinal yellow stripes cross on the butterfly’s black body, mirroring the band that crosses the hindwing.

The butterfly gifts me with a few short moments before taking off, wings rapidly flapping, a blur of black shadow once again.

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