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Canadian Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio canadensis) is one the largest butterflies of Alaska measuring 7-8 cm. It also happens to be quite abundant around Fairbanks. Yesterday, I saw more than 50 of them on a bike ride along Cache Creek Road at the foothill of Murphy Dome. Canadian Tiger live in deciduous and evergreen-deciduous woods and forest edges. They are usually more common and found at lower altitudes than Alaska’s other swallowtail, Old World Swallowtail (Papilio machaon aliaska) that I still need to spot.

Canadian Tiger overwinter in Alaska as a chrysalis (pupa or cocoon). At the end of the summer the caterpillar wraps itself in its own silk and begins the chrysalis stage. It remains as a chrysalid during the winter and metamorphoses in the spring into an adult butterfly. Read more about butterflies of Alaska here and here.

After being back in Denmark for six weeks I finally made it back to Fairbanks last week. I was stunned by how much the seasons had changed. When I left in April every was still frozen and covered by snow. Now, it is summer with everything bursting with life. Here are a few pictures from Angel Rocks where Yiming and I went for an afternoon trip. All pictures except for the river picture was taken with my new Zuiko 50 mm f2.0 macro lens.