This female monarch butterfly, although had a torn wing, fluttered about just fine this morning in the garden.
It definitely makes you wonder how long she has been flying and what happened.
She was a beauty, and fun to watch as she tackled the porterweed to grab some good.
I wonder how much nectar they have to consume in a day for their diet?
My butterfly garden was full of a brilliant orange this morning as a few gulf fritillary butterflies fluttered in feeding on the nectar flowers.
The nectar from the flowers holds both proteins and other chemicals, which help the butterfly both receive energy, or pheromones for males. When the butterfly is fluttering by a nectar plant it will look at the shape, color, fragrance and test the flower by using its antennae, palpi, tarsi (feet) and its proboscis, which all have sensory receptors.
I read in “Florida Butterfly Gardening” that the nectar may only be secreted during certain hours of the day, which may be why the butterflies are abundant during the morning hours.
The proboscis, or what is referred as the butterfly’s straw, is a very important part of its digestive system, as it begins at the very tip. The strong muscles in the butterfly’s head will stretch its first part of the esophagus to sip the nectar from the flower, according to the book “Florida Butterfly Gardening.” The butterfly’s salivary glands will add enzymes, which begin the digestion once the nectar enters the butterfly’s head. The process continues as the nectar is stored in “the crop,” or a sac, in the abdomen once it passes through the thorax. It then moves into the butterfly’s “midgut” where the majority of absorption and digestion takes place before continuing onto the hindgut. The process continues as the hindgut is responsible for getting rid of nitrogen wastes, and excess salts. Uric acid is dumped into the gut to discharge feces, which is in liquid form, at the tip of the abdomen, according to the book “Florida Butterfly Gardening.”