Spring Photo - Scarce Swallowtail (Iphiclides podalirius)

In the first day of my vacation, I went to Veshtica with my brother. I couldn't find time for ringing , but my brother took this amazing picture of a  Scarce Swallowtail (Iphiclides podalirius).

Here is some more information about this beautiful creature:

"The Scarce Swallowtail (Iphiclides podalirius) is a Palearctic swallowtail butterfly found in gardens, fields and open woodlands. First described by Linnaeus in 1758, it is found in places with sloe thickets and particularly orchards. It is also called Sail Swallowtail or Pear-tree Swallowtail. The Southern Swallowtail (Iphiclides feisthamelii), is sometimes treated as a subspecies. Despite the name ('scarce'), this swallowtail is quite common.

It is widespread throughout Europe with the exception of the northern parts. Its range extends northwards to Saxony and central Poland and eastwards across Asia Minor and Transcaucasia as far as the Arabian peninsula, India, and western China. A few specimens of the Scarce Swallowtail have been reported from central Sweden and the UK but they were probably only strays and not migrants. The scarcity of UK migrants is responsible for the English common name. In the Alps it can be found up to altitudes of 1600 m.

The presence of Iphiclides podalirius in the floodplain of the Morava River in the Slovak Republic have been found to be a good indicator of relatively well preserved xerothermic grassland habitats with forest-steppe vegetation, which have no cutting history."