common_nature | Insect Bonanza

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Insect Bonanza

Never saw a bunch of butterflies clustered together like this before, much less so preoccupied that photos were possible.

I saw this dragonfly buzzing around some plants. It was hard to catch but as it kept circling back to land every time I approached I finally got something relatively close up.

A praying mantis has been hanging out on one of our plants for most of the summer. My partner dubbed her Harriet after Harry in Death in Paradise.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Exactly what were those butterflies doing? Linedancing???

Ha!

But seriously, were they hurt? I'm worried about them now.

I don't think so, they were moving around and seemed fine and one flew off while we were still around.

Great sightings! I've never seen more than one butterfly at a time.

I don't think I have either. I've only seen butterflies clustered in butterfly centers.

If the butterflies were on a damp patch of ground, I'd think they were puddling -- sipping up water to get the minerals. But this doesn't look like that.

I've seen migratory butterflies clustering on tree branches, but not on the ground. They're really pretty, whatever they're doing.

You didn't ask, but that's a male widow skimmer dragonfly.

It's delightful that you have a named praying mantis in your garden!

P.

Oh cool about the dragonfly 🙂 It seemed more colorful or iridescent in person than it came out in the photos. But then I was just glad it came out at all!

Yes, I'm surprised it's been there so long but I guess it's good hunting 🍴

Yeah, there's a lot of evanescent detail in dragonflies that is very hard to capture in a photograph. But as you say, having one even sit still long enough is a boon. And that species is very distinctive, so perfectly identifiable even if the photo isn't the reality.

It's nice for a garden to be good eating at more than one level.

P.

Was the area where the butterflies were clustered wet at all? Sometimes they'll congregate in damp areas to replenish fluids and nutrients. The behavior is called puddling. Earlier this year I saw dozens of Tiger Swallowtails puddling in a muddy parking lot!

Could be but we haven't had rain in a while so I wouldn't have thought so. But it could be the ground was damp beneath the grasses.

Found it. It's the Pearl Crescent Butterfly.

Phyciodes Tharos

Good to know!

Both the caterpillars and the adult butterflies love asters, so that’s one thing you can plant to encourage them.

Seriously—those butterfly group shots are National Geographic material!