Natural History Photographs

If we think of feeding butterflies, the archetypical image is that of a butterfly kissing a flower. But many butterflies favor other food sources now and then, and some are rarely observed at flowers at all. In this page I give some examples of butterflies feeding on sources other than flowers. To start with, here's a selection of mud-puddling butterflies.

What are these butterflies after? Is it water? This might seem likely, and in very dry environments water may be important. But there are other possibilities as well, namely organic matter or salt/minerals. Look at the following photographs: the butterflies drink from mud mixed with organic debris.

This Small Tortoiseshell visited Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris) seconds before it landed on decaying reed at the boundary between dry land and a small puddle. Its tongue is covered with pollen, but most butterflies can only use nectar. So this butterfly had just drunk, and probably is not after water per se.

These Silver-washed Fritillaries are 'sand puddling'. Since water is not easily obtainable from a bonedry forest floor, these butterflies must be after something different altogether; my hunch is it's salt or minerals.

This Small Emperor descended only rarely from the tree tops. Once it did, it visited the remains of a campfire. The left photograph shows it feeding on ash remains, the right one resting on charcoal.

The mud puddling butterlies in the photographs above might also be after minerals rather than water, but it seems hard to make the distinction! As water dissolves salts and minerals, the two come together naturally. However, quite often the butterflies cluster together on tiny spots, while there is plenty of space offering liquids elsewhere. Look at these whites:

The whites within this 'flock' cluster in small subgroups. In the tiny creek bed I found flocks of whites widely dispersed. If they were after water, there would be little reason for such clustering. But if minerals occur only patchily, the butterflies' behaviour is easily explained. Here are some more examples of butterflies clustering together: