NATURE NOTES: Butterflies

By Robin Ecklund

Did you know that BUTTERFLIES don’t nectar just on flowers?  Some butterflies, such as mourning cloaks, suck tree sap.  Little blues (butterflies that look like sparking blue flax petals) probe the mud in puddles for minerals with a long proboscis, a sort of tube usually curled up against their face.  It can be unfurled and used like a drinking straw.  Swallowtails and other butterflies also engage in “puddling”.   Butterflies are most active when it’s warm, look for them on a sunny day after mid-morning.

Source:  Wild Boulder County

by Ruth Carol Cushman & Steve Jones