You can find most butterflies out and about during the day, like this Plum Judy.
This makes them easy to see, to find and to photograph, as the light is bright.
However, walking at night you can also find many species sleeping, often upside down, under leaves. You may need a flash, but you can get really close without them being disturbed.
Here a short banded sailor rests under a leaf, next to a path on Tai Mo Shan, at night.
Did you know:
- Butterflies live on an all-liquid diet
Their mouthparts are modified to enable them to drink, but they can't chew solids. A proboscis, which functions as a drinking straw, stays curled up under the butterfly's chin until it finds a source of nectar or other liquid nutrition.
- Why do you see butterflies drinking from mud puddles, on even on animal pooh sometimes?
A butterfly cannot live on sugar alone; it needs minerals, too. To supplement its diet of nectar, a butterfly will occasionally sip from other sources which are rich in minerals and salts. This behaviour is called puddling.