Who doesn't love to identify and name? Mourning Cloak. Mourning Cloak! How wonderful!At the ever-informative Butterflies and Moths of North America site, I learned, "Overwintered adults mate in the spring, the males perching in sunny openings during the afternoon to wait for receptive females." Mm-hmm. Likely.
And: "They will also feed on rotting fruit." We have plenty of rotting loquats right now because the parrots didn't return this year to feast. (As a matter of fact, the parrots haven't been flying over our house every morning and at dusk as in past years. It's sad.)
This particular butterfly has also been landing on the one geranium plant, which was holding a little water in a few of its cupped leaves, to drink. (That picture didn't come out well.)
Finally, a May Swenson poem, which mentions a Morning Cloak. I like.
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