Butterflies Flutter By

orchidWe have many friends who like to come up to ThorpeWood by themselves – outside of any organized group activity – and spend time in nature.  We always welcome those who are respectfully looking for a place to commune with nature, and we especially enjoy when they have a particular interest which they are pursuing and which they choose to share with us.  That allows us, in turn, to share it with you!  One of those instances happened recently involving butterflies!

With the return of the warmer weather, the butterflies have been on the move and a friend was on our property searching for these wonders.  She first visited in April, but after our cold winter and cooler than usual early spring, the butterflies were still not active.  These past weeks have heralded their return, and we wanted to share some of her pictures with you.

Here is a Tiger Swallowtail:

Tiger Swallowtail

Just look at this Dreamy Duskywing:

Dreamy Duskywing

And this Spicebush Swallowtail:

spicebush swallowtail

A big thank you to the photographer of these fantastic pictures, Kathy Barylski.

Kathy is not only a photographer of butterflies, she is a researcher of butterflies.  When we looked at the last picture – the one of the butterfly at the mud – we wondered why butterflies hang out near mud, as we had seen this before.  Have you ever wondered that?  Well, we asked Kathy and she told us that they are hanging out at the mud because they are sipping up mineral nutrients.  Some butterlies like to sip on dung too.  Totally did not know that!  As Kathy informed us, almost all butterflies really like the sweetness of overripe fruit, so leaving out melon rinds and such makes for very happy butterflies!

Thanks for sharing your wonderful observations and knowledge with us, Kathy.  And thanks for continuing to embrace the special opportunities to connect with nature that ThorpeWood provides!