Found this guy munchin' on my lilacs yesterday. It is Papilio polyxenes, the Black Swallowtail Butterfly. I initially misdiagnosed this as an Indra swallowtail, which it turns out are much more rare around here than this guy. I found a biologist on the web who's research is solely with the Indra swallowtail, and he corrected my error. I like swallowtails a lot. And just as I was writing this post, Cari spotted another (different species) swallowtail sitting on the lilacs. I went out to shoot it, but the neighbor's dog started barking like crazy (like he always does) and scared the butterfly away.