Place of the Butterfly Party
Wednesday’s Photos
Wild Party of the Butterflies
On a walk along the shore of the Arrow Lake in June I came across a most curious sight. On the ground I spotted a gathering of butterflies which displayed a rather odd behaviour. They were attracted to a grey mass of an object. Tightly bunched together they appeared to be in a drinking frenzy with their proboscises sucking up some undefinable liquid. First I shot a few pictures from several metres away fearing that they might fly away before I had a chance to capture their bizarre behaviour. As I came closer and closer I noticed that they completely ignored my presence. Rather they behaved like people in a bar being in various stages of intoxication. One butterfly was lying on its side sticking its proboscis deep into a crack of the unknown substance. Others sitting on top of one another. I was deeply puzzled. Now I was so close that my camera lens was able to take close-ups at times even touching their wings. Then I finally realized that the source of their attraction was a fish head, which had been left at the beach by a fisherman. I hope you can still enjoy the photos. Apparently butterflies do not always go after the colourful flowers. At times they rather prefer the valuable nutrients of a rotten fish head.
The Peter and Gertrud Klopp Family 
Bizarre and yet wonderful pictures!
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Thank you!
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Peter, daily life is so full of surprises, isn’t it? I never would have suspected these butterflies to be attracted to fish remains either. One of nature’s beautiful and exquisite creatures sucking fluids out of a rotting fish head! These are awesome photos, Peter, thanks for sharing them!
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Thank you for the compliment, Des!
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Wonderful colours of nature! Awesome Peter as always:)
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Lieber Peter, da bist du ja wahrlich zum richtigen Zeitpunkt am richtigen Ort gewesen. Sehr ungewöhnlich finde ich es, dass sich Schmetterlinge um einen Fischkopf scharen, was sie dort wohl für sich fanden? Schöne klare Bilder, habe ich mir sehr gerne angeschaut.
herzliche Grüße, Ulli
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Ja, liebe Ulli, wie ich schon anderen mitgeteilt habe, gehen dieselben Schmetterlinge an die Blumen für ihre Hauptmahlzeiten. Aber die Mineralstoffe im Fischkopf müssen sie wohl angezogen haben. Die Natur setzt einen immer wieder in Erstaunen. Wer aufhört zu staunen, lebt eigentlich gar nicht mehr.
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Das ist so wahr, lieber Peter, staunen und neugierig sein und bleiben, das hält lebendig. Ich wünsche dir einen zauberhaften Oktobertag, herzlichst, Ulli
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How very odd! I would have assumed that butterflies were vegetarians, not pescatarians!! And yes, uch!
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I bet they still prefer visiting flowers. In this case they looked like they suffered from a severe case of addiction. Haha!
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Hard to imagine the draw of a dead fish, but then, hey, we aren’t butterflies!
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It was a big surprise for me as well, Amy.
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Never knew their rotten fish preferences, wow. thank you, Peter
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I would think that there must be some rarely found nutrients in rotten fish. Animals know best what is good for them.
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Now, this is surprising as to what attracted butterflies to the fish head.
I have heard that there’s been quite some snowfall in Canada owing to the sudden change in weather. Is that so?
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Well, here in the West we live too close to the ocean which has a moderating influence. Of course, the mountain passes had already their first snowfalls.
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ok. 🙂
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I guess that different butterflies have different diets … 😉
These are incredibly beautiful!
They are the ones called “Schwalbenschwanz” in German, aren’t they? I have only ever seen them in southern Europe in Croatia.
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I am certain that these butterflies also visit flowers. But as we can see they supplement their diet with fish head.
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Those are wonderful captures, they look like little airplanes. Nature is always mesmerizing.
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Amazing indeed, these butterflies are with their peculiar behaviour. Thanks for your kind words, Cornelia!
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Love the photos, Peter. Never knew that butterflies loved fish heads. Thank you for sharing!
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Thank you, Hazel!
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What a luck – beautiful pictures! Congratulation!
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For the truly great pictures I have been mostly very lucky. Thank you, Gerry!
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I really like the butterfly pictures.
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I am glad you like them. Thank you!
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I really like your post it looks like very Nice and attractive pictures. Thanks for sharing this post.
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Ah!
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Great shots of the butterflies, Peter! It’s quite odd that they would prefer a dead fish.
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Thank you, Tiny!
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Amazing pictures, as usual Peter. Catching butterflies is always hard part for me. By the way, I kept asking myself why I did not see your posts from my feed for sometimes. Then I checked your website and had no idea why I did not follow your blog. I probably accidentally touched the button while checking through smart phone. Yeah, smart phone is not as smart as it sounds.
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Thank you, Nurul! For awhile I thought I had lost you. The same thing happened to me once also. Suddenly the notifications stopped coming. Have a great day, Nurul!
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Thank you, Peter. Have a great day to you too..
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