Zebra Longwing Butterfly visiting a Passionflower Vine.
The State Butterfly of Florida.

Great close up. My favorite BF.

Beautiful. Would love to see the entire butterfly, wings and all. The colors are amazing.

That is a stunning butterfly ... would love to see that kind of color fluttering around in my garden!!

Super shot, Tara.

Great banner and close up of such a beautiful butterfly ! I've never seen one in person.

for the 's & 's.

This is one of the most difficult that I've tried to photograph...The darn thing just wouldn't hold still for me! The Gulf Frits will stop and rest a lot more often than these little ones. But patience finally paid off!
This is the photo that the banner came from. It really was fun creating it!

I'm glad he finally stood still long enough for this shot--it turned out great! He's beautiful!

What a most wonderful butterfly. Thank you for the original photo Tara, glad you took the time.

Here's a mating couple from the Museum of Science and Industry today. I volunteer there on Sundays at their butterfly garden.



Oh yeah, I just remembered my avatar is a Zebra Longwing! Here's a couple of fun facts. The Zebra Longwing is the official state butterfly of Florida. They can also live 6-9 months unlike the average butterfly which only lives a few days to two weeks. Why, you ask? Well, Zebra Longwings have the ability to collect pollen on their proboscis. They then secrete an enzyme that liquefies the pollen so they can suck it up through the proboscis. This added nutrition gives them the ability to live a lot longer than on a diet of nectar alone.

I did not know that about butterflies. I learned something new today. Thank you Melanie. Great photo.

Melanie, I'm so glad you popped in here! I also did not know that about the Zebra Longwing's life span! I too, learned something new today!

I'm all about educating, Lynn. Last week at the museum two people asked where I got my entomology degree from. I happened to be wearing my University of Pennsylvania shirt and I said, "I didn't! I got an economics degree!" I tell people you can learn a lot from books, the internet and wonderful sites like this, and simple observation and trial and error. I've been raising butterflies for about seven years now, but I feel like I'm always seeing something new!

Tara, we cross-posted! You're welcome, too! And thanks for the banner. Seeing it first thing this morning made my day!

We should not have one day end without learning something new.

Lynn!

And, to all... again for all of the 's & 's!!!

Awesome photo!