Where do Butterflies go when it Rains – Nature’s Mysteries
My daughters have asked me this: Where do butterflies go when it rains?
In fact I too have asked this to my mother. She was my Google those days. Walking behind her holding on to her sari pallu I used to keep nagging her with my silly questions, especially on rainy afternoons when we were forced to stay indoors.
Where do butterflies go when it rains?
I passed on Her answer to my daughters: When it rains the butterflies hide under the leaves. They are delicate and can perish in severe storms. They hide in umbrella-like foliage, in tree hollows, under rocky outcroppings or even in crevices in rocks
So often after rains we have gone for walks just to see if any butterfly was hiding under the leaves… or if the butterflies were flapping their wings mildly to dry their wings. Many times we were lucky to see the hanging butterflies with their wings tightly shut.
The butterfly in this picture is Blue Tiger Butterfly (Tirumala Limniace).
A butterfly is cold blooded creature. It basks in the heat of the sun “in order to build up its body temperature to operating level, raise their body temperature to a functional level” and it faces a severe risk of mortality in heavy downpours. This is highlighted in William H. Howe’s “The Butterflies of North America” (Doubleday, 1975). Butterflies huddle with folded wings until the sun comes out again and it is able to fly once more.
Heavy rain poses a significant threat to them, often leading to high mortality rates. Butterflies seek shelter during rain just as they do at night when they are most vulnerable. They quickly find refuge under umbrella-like foliage, within tree hollows, beneath rocky overhangs, or in crevices in rocks with their wings folded, waiting for the sun to reappear so they can fly again..
For a light-bodied butterfly, raindrops can be as perilous as a bucket of water dropping on a human. In fact, butterflies are so vulnerable to bad weather that certain cultures have folklore suggesting they can predict it, according to Lucy W. Clausen’s “Insect Fact and Folklore” (Macmillan, 1954).
Butterflies flutter around in the sunny days. It is easy to search for the different species then and if it rains heavily for a short spell then you will for sure get to capture them in your lens.
Common Crow Butterfly (Euploea Core)
Butterflies Journeying in Monsoon
Butterflies can migrate either in small groups or in massive swarms involving millions of individuals. The large-scale migrations often occur in response to adverse weather conditions. Another strategy butterflies employ to cope with poor weather is entering diapause, a dormant state where they remain as pupae or caterpillars, halting development until favorable conditions return. This adaptation is common in the Himalayas, Europe, and other cold regions.
However, in the rainy areas of South India, diapause is uncommon. The adverse weather there lasts only about two months, making brief migrations a more viable option than prolonged dormancy.
Butterfly Facts
The lifespan of a butterfly is just one to two weeks and if there are storms within this period the butterflies perish. The last generation of monarch butterflies of a year survives eight to nine months. They hibernate during the winter months.
The Ringlet Butterfly can fly during light showers and when the temperatures are warm enough. Picture below is that of a Orange Tip butterfly.
Butterflies seek shelter in the rain, they are also vulnerable
Butterflies sleep at night like us. That surprised my kids, but they knew it would be hard to spot one at night. When the day is cloudy or at night, adult butterflies rest by hanging upside down from leaves or twigs, where they are hidden among the foliage safe from being preyed on.
Butterflies are waterproof to a certain extent. Most butterfly wings are considered “super-hydrophobic”. Explaining scientifically would be like this: the contact angle (CA) with a water drop exceeds 150 degrees. Butterfly wings are covered with strongly overlapping scales which increases the hydrophobicity. In the case of butterflies with transparent or translucent wings, scale cover is reduced; thus, the hydrophobicity could be affected.
This is a red bellied Swallowtail Butterfly. It is badly injured (can make out from its damaged wings) and is clinging on to its life. Read more: Have you Chased a Ruby-Spotted Swallowtail Butterfly?
Rain doesn’t harm butterflies. They can live through storms too, they wait for the rain to stop and for their bodies to dry before they fly again.
On an average, most butterfly species have a life span of about two weeks in their adult stage.
The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough. ~ Rabindranath Tagore
Add to this, there is a there is a Zuni saying, “When the white butterfly flies from the southwest, expect rain.”
Can a butterfly hear?
Butterflies can hear birds approaching. Their hearing is unusually sensitive to low pitch sounds. It is their God given defense. The structure of the membrane enable the butterfly to hear a greater range of pitches, enhancing the abilities of these butterflies to listen for birds.
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Trust children to come with zany questions. Exquisite photos!
You know in nearly 50 years on this earth I had never thought to ask that question?
What a fantastic post… informative and philosophical at once, and an admirable job of both…
Yesterday I chased a Monarch all over and never did get a picture of it. Great shots.
What a lovely post — both the story and the photos. I loved your comment about your mother being your google back then.
Bobbie
Nice! You could bring home a pupa and watch it grow into a butterfly!
Thanks Ajeya… I have read somewhere the butterflies can sense storms and they change the direction of flying accordingly.
Thanks Buwau98… You seem to well read on one of India’s greatest writers, I am impressed. That plant is not a chilli plant. I am not sure of the shrub’s name.
Thanks Mamageek.
Thanks Maddy… somebody should pull my ears like this once in a while.
loevly pics….BTW did you do the study on flowers?
Wow. Stunning shots!
The flower which is single
Need not envy the thorns
That are numerous
=Rabindranath Tagore
Just passing by, and wow…..
those butterflies were lovely.
Was that chili plant?
The flower which is single
Need not envy the thorns
That are numerous
=Rabindranath Tagore
Just passing by, and wow…..
those butterflies were lovely.
Was that chili plant?
Very nice pics Indrani. Can they sense the storm before it arrives? May be we must watch closely to kow more.
Thank you very much Celine for rushing to inform me of the award. I could sense your happiness and excitement for me. A virtual cyber hug from me. 🙂
((CELINE))
Thank you Blogbharti!
Pingback from Blogbharti: […] “Where do the butterflies go when it rains?”. And it turns out, her daughters also ask her the same […]
Hi all, Thanks a lot for stopping by and posting a comment for me.
Thank you very much David!
Thank you very much Misty Dawn!
Have you visited the Butterfly Park in Bannerghatta National Park? It’s worth visiting. I think it’s the first or the only one of its kind in India.
My daughter is going to love you. We’re all about butterflies right now.
Back at you on the “congrats” (I hadn’t been home and had pre-published my current posts, so I almost missed David’s PotD, thanks for the heads-up). This is a lovely, lovely post (and photos). “My mom was my google” — what a great line!
“The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough.”
Lovely. Thank you!
what a beautiful post!
beautiful vibrant photos and a lovely text!
this deserves to be the post of the day.
Fantastic pictures Indrani and very often I too have had this doubt..thanks for the information
Lakshmi
how amazing to be able to capture so many different butterflies … did you find them all in your own neighborhood ?
:-Daryl
Wow, this is so wonderful, especially the last line, moments not months…and still enough. How lovely! Thanks for the kind words over at my place.
Lovely pictures, and a lovely thing you’ve said about your mother, Indrani – ‘She was my Google those days’. 🙂
What an exquisite post! And those pictures! Wow! I live where you can see the monarch butterfly migration twice a year between the cold north of the US and the warmth of deep Mexico. One of my goals is to get involved with the butterfly watch groups and do counting and perhaps tagging although I have concerns about that part of the process of study.
Hope you write more like this. Congratulations on making the top of David’s Post of the Day list! Well deserved honor!
Peace!
Indrani,
Your post is the winner on David’s ‘Post of the Day.’
Well deserved I must say. Happy for you. Congratulations Indrani.:)
I love your pictures. It is my ambition to be able to photograph a butterfly on a flower! I am just beginning an interest with photography. I wonder what kind of camera you used?
It is a good question, where do butterflies go when it rains!
Very nice pictures, and a lot of information that I did not know about butterflies. 🙂
Wondeful post Indrani,
Getting your children interested in nature is a wonderful you as a parent can do. And you seem to be a good teacher for them too.
Indrani
Simply wonderful and what a lesson to learn from the post-ending quote!
excellent post with wonderful capture. i really like what you said about your mother and google. excellent parallelism
For a second it stuck me when I read it, I wouldn’t know what to answer both my kids if they ever asked that question.
Love your blue tiger shot 🙂 Clear and precise 🙂
Have a good week ahead Indrani!! 🙂
Great post. I’m sure a lot of adults don’t know how a fragile butterfly weathers the storms.
No, I didn’t stick my hand into the school of fish, even at that young age they were to wary to allow one to aproach that closely.
Thanks for visiting Country Captures.
Salty
what a great post. very interesting, and educational.
happy CC!
Very nice post. Are all these pictures yours Indrani?
You are a nature lover and that’s excellent.:)
Awesome captures! I didn’t know that butterflies other than the monarch butterflies live for such a short time.
Thanks for the visit.
This is a wonderful post, the pictures were beautiful and the story of the child asking the mother about butterflies was sweet!
Indrani Hello!
Thank you for your views on my blog.
I noted that you have posted a step ahead of mine.
I posted a caterpillar…
…You posted a butterfly.
We are combining.
Thanks all, Thank you very much for all the lovely comments.
A wonderful post. Stunning inmages and very infromative text.
A wonderful post. Stunning inmages and very infromative text.
It is so refreshing to visit your blog Indrani..
You make us think in many different ways… I never knew where the butterflies went during the rain…
Beautiful butterflies ! and a cute question ! I never thought about this.
You have such an awesome blog! I love how you show the culture of India. It’s amazing!
EXQUISITE A WONDERFUL POST.. SK
Thank you for a wonderful post. The butterfly photos are beautiful and I love how you refer to your mother as your “Google” when you were a child.
This is an AMAZING post! These butterflies, and the photos of them, are absolutely GORGEOUS!
Lovely post, Indrani. I wrote a recent post where I stated “my mother was my Google”.
Beautiful and thought provoking.
this is awesome. i am impressed. how do u post stuff like this and get pics..
Beautiful butterflies! I didn’t know where they went when it rained.
Indrani: What a wonderful story of the butterflies and a great set of photos to tell the story.
Gorgeous butterflies! They’re hard to get good pictures of sometimes, because they’re always moving. I love all the different kinds you got…and I enjoyed all the butterfly facts. I didn’t know they had such a short lifespan.
Great camera critters post!
Spectacular collection!
No more words of admiration, Indrani, for your photographs. You are simply the supremo!
And this is a great post of mother-and-daughter bonding.