simran_1501's Identifications

During our trip to Hocking Hills, my friend and I were walking along a small creek. On the sand bank, we saw a group of these magnificent butterflies known as Eastern Tiger Swallowtails. I estimated that there were around a dozen of these beautiful creatures. However, despite the beauty of these, they were in the act of what scientist call, mud-puddling. This is where large groups of mostly male butterflies will assemble aground smelly mud, animal urine, or dung. One observation that has been made is, while these butterflies drink from the mud/sand, liquid is pumped from their abdomens. You can see this in the last picture (a small droplet formed at the very tip of the abdomen). This was a mystifying experience even though I may have been laying in animal excretions in order to get these pictures!