A Charaxes jasius butterfly on the branch of a fig tree

Versión en español

A Charaxes jasius butterfly (Two-tailed Pasha butterfly) on the branch of a fig tree. Its caterpillars feed on the strawberry tree and the adults are attracted by the fermentation of the fruit, like those on the fig tree in my garden on which it had perched when taking these photos.
It is the largest butterfly in Europe, females can reach 9 cm wingspan. It flies very fast and on other occasions I had not been able to approach it without it fleeing as they are easily frightened. But I have learned that many butterflies come back to perch repeatedly on the same branch or flower and are not so worried if you are already close to where they are going to perch again, so it is a matter of being patient and waiting for them to come back. If you don't make any sudden movements and don't get between them and the sun it is easier to get within a few centimeters to take photos.

However, that day it was very windy and both the branch and the butterfly were fluttering continuously. The photos of the tongue uncurling are actually stills taken from a short 4K/30fps video. The frames are only 8 Mpx (3840 x 2160). but they are of sufficient quality. To extract them from the video I used Video2Photo HD (AppStore).
Photos taken with an iPhone 13 mini and a homemade lens extracted from binoculars.

27 August in Calpe-Alicante.
My other macro insect photos on Instagram