A butterfly flutters past me. I see orange spots on the outside of the wings. The experts among you already know: that is an orange tip. Our most royal butterflies fly out at the end of April. That can hardly be a coincidence!
The females drink nectar from the last Pentecost flowers that still bloom here and there. The males, with their orange wing tips, only refuel occasionally. They prefer to fly back and forth, searching, via a fixed route. Have you come across a fluttering orange tip? Just wait patiently… There is a good chance that it will always come back. But if such a male sees something white, he abandons his route to chase after the female.
Orange tip looking for female butterflies
Sometimes it is a white piece of paper; too bad for the orange tip guy. He continues to patrol steadfastly. Until he gets a bite and can mate with a female, somewhere safe among the bushes. The white female (who has no orange spots at all, but hey, she’s stuck with her husband’s name) goes looking for a plant to lay eggs. And the orange-tipped male? He is not unfamiliar, he is already looking for white butterflies and other female butterflies.
Nature specialist and hiker Kees Loogman prescribes MAX Magazine about his walks in nature. View his other nature moments.
(Source: MAX Magazine – Edition No. 17 2024. Photo: Shutterstock)
