Today's new coloring page is of a Tiger Swallowtail Fairy.
She is hanging out with a female Western Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly.
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Tiger Swallowtail Fairy
Tiger Swallowtail Fairies have wings that are close to appearance to the wings of the Western Tiger Swallowtail Butterly, the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly, and the Appalachian Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly. All three species of butterfly are very similar in appearance. Males are slightly different in appearance than female Tiger Swallowtail Butterflies.
Notice that the Fairy, whose name is Alondia, is accompanied by her friend who is a female Western Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly. We can assume this because Western Tiger Swallowtail Butterflies lay their eggs in certain types of trees. Western Tiger Swallowtail Butterflies like to lay their eggs in Cottonwood Trees, Aspen Trees, and Willow Trees. This is a willow tree in the drawing. Willow leaves are delicious to Tiger Swallowtail caterpillars.
I should mention that Alondia is a type of Fairy with more than one love. This is common among Fairies. Alondia loves Tiger Swallowtail Butterflies so much that she uses her flying belt to check in on populations of the different species in the Appalachian Mountains, in the prairies of the Great Planes, in the Rocky Mountains, and really from east coast to east coast including parts of Canada and Mexico.
But Alondia is also a lover of her favorite Genus of tree... the Salix. She loves willow trees. She has been known to use a fire-throwing charm to destroy Russian Olive trees in isolated places where mortals will not see. This destruction of the non-native plant allows the willows to grow back along banks of rivers and along lakes and reservoirs. She has to be careful because she does not want to start a general forest fire, she only wants to destroy the "weed plant." The Russian Olive is an invasive species that is not native to North America so by definition it is a weed. Of course, it is a nice smelling weed and has beautiful blue-green leaves as well. But it is driving out native vegetation like the willow trees.
Tiger Swallowtail Butterflies are large for insects. Their wingspan can be up to 5.5 inches or 14 cm. wide. The wings have the "tiger stripes" as well as the extension that makes this butterfly look like a swallow. Barn Swallows have forked tails... so a flying Swallowtail Butterfly looks a bit like a flying swallow. Tiger Swallowtail Butterflies are mostly yellow with mostly black and some other colors of markings.
Willow Tree bark has been an herbal remedy for inflammation and pain for millennia. (So maybe the Western Tiger Swallowtail is hatched with a terrible headache so it goes to work eating the willow to cure its headache. The willow leaves have salicin in them too.) Many cultures have known about this cure or treatment for pain and inflammation... and even used Willow Tree Bark for treating fevers. The salicin compound in the willow bark is very similar to the chemical found in aspirin.
The Globe Willow is one of my favorite trees because it grows in a round or spherical shape that looks like a giant green globe on a pedestal. When I was a little boy I used to play with my cousin under his family's willow tree that took up a bunch of his front yard. It was a Weeping Willow. The Weeping Willow Trees have beautiful pendulum branches that hang down clear to the ground.
I took a college class at Utah Valley University called Field Botany. The instructor told us that we had to learn the names of 50 native woody plants. She gave us a pass on most native willow trees because there are several native species and many are very difficult to tell apart. I do remember having to learn about the Narrow Leaf Willow... or Salix exigua. It has very narrow and often curly leaves. The tree in this drawing is NOT a Narrow Leaf Willow. All willow trees are in the Genus: Salix. The willow trees are often seen here in the western part of the USA along stream banks and around lakes and reservoirs. There is a quite problem with many native willows here being out-competed and force out by the non-native invasive spences called the Russian Olive Tree.
NOTE: This drawing is different from some of my drawings because I colored in the darker parts of the wings. Feel free to color them in better if there are places where (in your opinion) the dark parts are insufficiently dark. This drawing, in printable form, can be found by clicking on the button labeled: "Fantasy, Myths, and Circus." Then scroll down to the bottom of the printables list and click on the title. You can then print the drawing for you or your child to color.... or print any of the other drawings you find in the lists.
LEGAL NOTE: Anyone has permission to print these drawings that I made and posted if they are printing them for kids or adults to color. They should not be printed for commercial purposes but I give my permission to any educational institution (schools-colleges-preschools-etc.)... to print and use my drawings for kids to color or for other educational purposes like classroom decoration or instruction. I also give permission to after-school programs, parents and guardians of kids or disabled adults, etc. to print and color my drawings for people to color. Senior living centers of any kind may use my drawings. This permission goes to businesses that have coloring pages out for kids to color in their waiting rooms etc. Daycares also can use my pictures. I have given my card with this blog address to cruise ship children's program directors and to children's programs directors at several museums so that type of institution or company or business has permission to use my drawings as well. . . for educational purposes. Any teacher that wants to use my drawings for educational purposes is free to do so. Church or religious groups may use my drawings as well. There is a "Religious" button that has many Old Testament and New Testament drawings along with drawings for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. My drawings should NOT be used for anyone or any business to make money. That is not what they were created for. They were created to spread joy.
Below are a few of my other Butterfly Fairy and Butterfly coloring pages and another photo.
These older drawings will be found in printable form by looking further up the list of printable
drawings. . . and you may to click on the "Animals" button to get to the Butterly drawings...
...if there is no Fairy in the picture.
Butterflies from Shenandoah National Park
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