Disgusting dining, Black ST, Henne

Beautiful butterflies don't always do beautiful things... at least, not to our eyes—and tastes. Case in point: I was helping lead an Avalonia Land Conservancy walk this morning to the organization's Henne preserve, and we had a fine group of more than a dozen people enjoying the Osprey kids, the blooming Sweet Pepperbush and Turk's Cap Lily flowers, the dragonflies, and the Painted Turtles, when one of the photographers with us drew our attention to an amazing sight. There were two exquisite butterflies—a Black Swallowtail (above) and a Tiger Swallowtail (below)—that were doing something uncharacteristic, which was, staying put despite lots of close-up attention. When I examined what they were doing, I quickly realized why they showed no inclination to flee. The lepidopterans had discovered the insect equivalent of Manna from heaven, and while the content of the divine food gift won't be mentioned in the King James edition, it was a true blessing for the butterflies—a fresh pile of animal, probably Otter, poop. Coprophagy. the ultimate form of recycling, is pretty common in the animal world, and the swallowtails were busy mining the unmentionables for nutrients. Nothing in nature gets wasted, not even waste. Disgusting dining, Tiger ST, Henne