I had an interesting time with this butterfly (which is called a Mourning Cloak, by the way). I went for a two-hour hike the other day and returned to my car to find this butterfly fluttering about in the sunshine. It soon landed on the rim of my tire and inched along with its probiscis down, seemingly licking salt from the tire. I watched it for awhile but had to get going so I picked it up, expecting it to fly away. But it stayed on my hand, inching along (which really tickles, by the way), looking as though it was maybe licking salt from my hand. At this point I became kind of enchanted!
Butterflies
"drink" nutrients through their probiscis, which acts like a straw, and
they're attracted to the sodium in salt and sweat. So I guess I was a
little sweaty after my two-hour hike and the butterfly took advantage of
that.
Eventually the butterfly flew away again but returned to my tire. And so it began...I picked it up and took its picture and after awhile it flew back to my tire. We did this routine a half-dozen times. I even shot a short video of the butterfly in my hand.
The Mourning Cloak butterfly (called a Camberwell Beauty in England) is often the first butterfly seen in the spring. Not only was this the first butterfly I saw this spring but it was definitely the friendliest too!
The Mourning Cloak also landed on some "normal" things like plants and rocks. Here's another picture I took of it:
I thoroughly enjoyed my butterfly experience...I got kind of attached to the little beauty and hated to leave!
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