"Whatever Wednesday" The Swallowtail Edition

It finally happened! - I've been trying almost all summer long to get a picture of a Swallowtail Butterfly.  There have been plenty of them flying around but none would ever land long enough for me to take a picture. 

Just when I thought I'd never capture one with my camera low and behold as I was getting ready to go somewhere and was pulling out of the driveway one flew by and landed on some of my mom's flowers.  Thankfully I had the camera with me and was able to quickly get out and snap some shots before it flew off.  I was so excited and hope you enjoy my photos.

I tried to find out which Swallowtail this is but there are a number of swallowtail species.  Near as I could find this looks closest to the W. Tiger Swallowtail.  If you know exactly the species of Swallowtail please let me know.  I live in Washington State if that helps.

This was my 1st shot of the butterfly.  It's on a Zinnia (that much I know).

A side view. 

"What are you looking at?" - I was snapping like crazy for fear it would fly before I got any good pictures.  You can see a bit of blur on the wings here in this shot from camera shake.

Hoping to catch a shot with it's wings opened.

This is as close as I got to it's wings being fully opened.   You can see some of the edges are a little tattered, especially on that right wing.

One final shot and it was off and flying again leaving behind a happy memory for me.

Take care and thanks for visiting.