Recently I saw a beautiful orange butterfly speckled with black – a great spangled fritillary – feeding on orange hawkweed in a meadow.
I observed it through binoculars, so as not to scare it off, then slowly crept closer.
I watched as the butterfly unfurled its proboscis, a tube that functions like a straw, and inserted it into the flower. Then the fritillary sucked up nectar by rhythmically contracting muscles in its head. Sugars in the nectar provide energy for flight, defense, reproduction, and the butterfly’s other daily activities. [Read more…] about Butterflies Sip Sweet Nectar
The September before my daughter was born, my husband and I went for our last pre-baby hike around Camel’s Hump in the Green Mountains of Vermont. We stopped for a snack on the ridgeline, and as we sat munching granola bars we were surprised to see a 
Monarch 
