Tailed Jay

 
Identification - Graphium agamemnon - tailed jay.
 
This is one of the most strikingly beautiful butterflies that I see on a daily basis. The stunning green speckled pattern on a black background lives on long in your thoughts, long after it has moved on. Not an easy photographic subject, very shy and tends to settle about fifteen feet up a tree, well out of reach of my macro lens.
 
This is one of the larger species of butterfly, of the family papillionidae, sought after by collectors who prefer to net the butterfly, gas it to death, pin it to a board with its wings spread, place it in a glass case and stuff it in a draw because they have so many that there is no space to display them all.
 
In fact, most collectors don’t even collect themselves. Butterflies are available on the internet from all over the world and at very low prices. It is a damned shame, haven’t these Neanderthals heard of the invention of photography – loving my new soap box I got for Christmas :)
 
When feeding, because of their size, they have to support their weight on the bloom by fluttering their wings. This is what we are looking at in this image. I have posted pin sharp, static images of this species before, just thought I would try something different today.
 
Dave