Holding On Through The Storm (Monarch)
Above is a photograph of a Monarch Butterfly right after an intense storm The butterfly clung to this stem through the rain and actually late into the night. (I checked.)
The next morning he’d dropped to a lower place on the stem, and then to the ground, slowly flapping his wings dry. (As shown on the video below.) Later, I saw him flying around a field, stopping for long breaks. (The videos I have in the field appear to be the long breaks, so won’t bore you with those.)
His doggedness was amazing.
Tags: a waste of energy?, Butterfly determination, butterfly video, I wish we all could dry our wings, manicddaily, monarch butterfly, photos of monarch butterfly
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ManicDDaily 
September 10, 2012 at 11:24 pm
That really was amazing, k. The aerodynamics there must be difficult, a fairly heavy body and such fragile looking light wings, non-functional when wet. I often accidentally get the bumblebees wet when I water, and they have a similar maneuver, but I don’t think they’re quite so helpless on the ground. There are predators down there–ants, especially. Quite a metaphor.
September 11, 2012 at 5:20 am
butterflies are so cool…and i feel for him clinging there in the storm…that has to be a pretty amazing even for them…they seem so delicate and those falling rain drops have to hurt….
September 11, 2012 at 7:49 am
Hi Miss Manic…. Butterflies don’t know how beautiful they are. Like roses, they simply exist. But also like roses, they have thorns. Their diet of milkweed causes them to be poisonous to birds, who avoid them like the plague. That’s all interesting, but my attention is on your own “doggedness” for following this small creature around for two days, worried about its condition.
“I checked”
Why? People can be like butterflies sometimes – like when they don’t know how beautiful they are…….
September 11, 2012 at 9:02 am
Ha – well, I did happen to go into the garden at night to see the butterfly, but I didn’t take pics unfortunately! k.