On a warm day we spotted this beautiful White Peacock Butterfly on our walk along the Indian River in Florida. These butterflies range from as far south as Argentina to the Carolinas in the U.S. That is why I have never seen one in Wisconsin or West Virginia. The second picture is taken of my drawing tablet where I am struggling to recreate this butterfly in flight.
Like most butterflies, it has very fussy food tastes. Its caterpillars feed on water hyssop (Anartia jayrophae) and Frogfruit (Phyla nodiflora). The adults are not so fussy about nectar, and will sip nectar from Bidens alba. You can see this white daisy-looking flower in the picture. This flower blooms all year, a convenient benefit if you are looking for nectar.
Drawing butterflies is a challenge no matter what kind of butterfly I choose to draw. The easiest pose is a flat butterfly. That’s also the way you see them in a museum exhibit, pinned through the thorax, and very dead. Drawing them so that they look alive is much more of a challenge. Top and bottom have different colors, too, making it even more difficult.
You can see on my drawing tablet that I have made a little paper model with the wings flapping, and am trying to catch that on the paper. In my drawing the front wing is too large and the back wing has an awkward slant. I haven’t gotten the correct combination so that this little butterfly appears as if it were flitting from one flower to another. It stayed quiet for a photo, but certainly not long enough for a drawing.
Since the days here are now in the 40’s and 50’s, I expect this little White Peacock has flown farther south, or has taken shelter in a safe place until the weather warms again. When it reappears, I will take additional photos.
