Surprise visitor joins monarch butterfly in the garden

The monarch butterfly gathering nectar in this photo and in the following video wasn't in a hurry to get the job done.

Although the butterfly stayed on just one bloom of cutleaf coneflower the entire time, it moved around extensively.

While it was sipping sweet nectar with its unfurled proboscis, another critter was also in the garden.  Watch the video to find out who the surprise visitor is.

Giant Swallowtail Butterfly on tropical milkweed plants

Tropical Milkweed attracts so many butterflies including this Giant Swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes).  Below is a short video (0:44) of one giant swallowtail as it goes about the life sustaining business of sipping nectar from milkweed flowers.

A model butterfly walks the red carpet

Wildlife encounters sure can happen at unexpected times and in the oddest of places.

I was planning to take supplies out to the car this morning but before I even stepped through the doorway, I saw something that stopped me in my tracks.  I turned around, put down the items I was carrying and picked up my camera.

Right in front of the door on an old piece of carpet in the garage was a beautiful Red-spotted Purple butterfly, Limenitis arthemis.

Limenitis arthemis strutting her stuff on the 'red' carpet

The garage doors were open, but even so, I have no idea why a butterfly would be spending time in that semi-inside space instead of outside in one of the many nearby gardens. For whatever reason, this pretty lady seemed quite intent on examining the carpeted floor.

What lovely spotted wings

As I snapped off photos and a video, the butterfly - who seemed completely unconcerned by my presence - circled around on the carpeted floor while opening and closing her colorful wings.

Pretty no matter what direction she faces

After a few minutes of putting on a show, she flew away, exchanging the garage floor for more fertile ground. I put the camera away and picked up the supplies I needed to take out to the car. Yet even as I got ready to head out myself, I couldn't help smiling at the unexpected wildlife encounter I'd just experienced.

Below is a short (0:33) video of the Red-spotted Purple strutting her stuff on the 'red' carpet.

So many butterflies!

I've been taking lots of pictures of butterflies now that the weather is warm and butterflies are out in full force.

The optimum body temperature for these cold-blooded creatures to fly is between 82 °-102° Fahrenheit.  It certainly has been that warm lately and butterflies are responding by fluttering from one bloom to another.

As much as I don't like the sticky, pointy seeds of Bidens alba, aptly named Spanish needle, butterflies sure do.  Below are four pictures of a common buckeye butterfly sipping nectar from Bidens alba flowers.

A Red-banded Hairstreak also likes visiting the Bidens alba plant.

I'm glad I saw this Great Southern White butterfly before my husband did.  He doesn't like them because they lay their eggs on plants in the Brassicaceae family such as broccoli, cabbage and Asian greens plants.  The eggs turn into caterpillars that devour the leaves of the plants Ralph works so hard to grow.  To him they are nothing more than a pest but I appreciate their beauty and hate to see them destroyed.

Great Southern White on tropical milkweed

A Checkered White butterfly looks similar to the Great Southern White

This American Lady butterfly looks especially pretty perched on the cheerful bloom of a bush sunflower.

The bush sunflowers attracted many flutterers including this Tiger Swallowtail

And of course the Gulf Fritillary butterfly is out in full force. I'm not sure which I see more of  - the Gulf Fritillary or the Zebra Longwing - but both are regulars here at our tucked away homestead.

Furled beauty

We often speak of a butterfly's beautiful wings. But another part of a butterfly's anatomy is also attractive.

A butterfly's proboscis is the thin "drinking straw" through which butterflies sip nectar.  To my eyes, the furled shape of a butterfly's proboscis is especially appealing.

Butterflies siphon nectar through a food tube in the center of the proboscis.  Small muscles on both sides of the food canal control the butterfly's ability to coil or uncoil its proboscis.

When its proboscis is unfurled, a butterfly is able to siphon nectar from flowers

Below is another picture of a butterfly with a furled proboscis:

Duskywing on rain lily

The furled shape of a butterfly proboscis is found throughout nature.

It's can be found in the emerging flower of a succulent or of a moon snail's shell. 

The unfurled shape of the stapelia gigantea flower

The coiled shape of a moon snail's shell

It can also be seen in the thin tip of a cattail stalk upon which a dragonfly has balanced

Or the curl of an anole (lizard) tail as it rests upon a succulent leaf

Nature is full of furled beauty.  If I had to choose one shape to call my favorite, I'd probably pick a swirling spiral because no matter where in nature I see it, it always makes me smile.