Скачать или смотреть Mountain Moment: Mud Puddling

Butterflies eat flower nectar, so why are they crawling around in the mud? This behavior is called "mud puddling". While butterflies get most of their nutrients from nectar, they also need salts and minerals for reproduction. Butterflies will gather around mud or other wet ground (or even animal dung!) to drink up water and salts. Excess water is sometimes then expelled. Mud puddling can be a good opportunity for butterfly photography, since the butterflies will stay stationary while drinking.

These Silvery Blue butterflies (Glaucopsyche lygdamus) were filmed mud puddling on the shore of Tipsoo Lake.

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NPS Video. Description: Two butterflies with blue-silver wings stand on wet, sandy ground. One butterfly on a rock flies away.