A female monarch butterfly stopping by for a meal of nectar from the blue porterweed.
Nectar stop
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Category Archives: monarch eating
Morning meal
I found another male monarch butterfly that sought refuge in our garden. It looks like his wing did not dry correctly once he emerged, making it hard to fly.
I have let him sleep in our butterfly house the last few nights and then I bring him back out into the garden for the day. This morning he was super hungry feeding on lantana (yellow nectar flower) and the penta (red nectar flower).
According to author Thomas C. Emmel, of “Florida’s Fabulous Butterflies” the butterflies proboscis, its “long tongue, or feed tube” can reach three times the length of the butterfly’s body when straightened.
It was fascinating to watch just how far the proboscis went into the flower as the monarch drank to its heart content.
Sipping nectar
With one injured wing, this male monarch butterfly has been found fluttering around our garden the last day or so.
Once he was shown to our lantana plant, my daughter and I watched him drink to his heart’s content. My daughter then began picking individual flowers and feeding him in her hands while talking sweetly to the stunning butterfly.
It just goes to show that if you slow down enough, you have the opportunity to witness nature at its finest.
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