~~~The Mourning Cloak~~~

"Still in denial " I have had no frost right in my little area, flowers in my gardens and on the deck are still blooming, Clouded Sulphur butterflies are flitting about in the fields, dragon flies about, and the past two days it has been in the mid to high 70's (shorts and bare feet weather I love it)
Ya I know I am in for a big surprise!!  The calendar says Fall, the Hummingbird has not been seen since last Monday, leaves are starting to turn into yellows and reds , birds are migrating , some people are dressed like they are expecting snow any minute. days are shorter and nights are cooler *sigh !!

This post is the first butterfly I see in the spring, and I see then as late as this past week, but not in the last couple of days!!
The Mourning Cloak winters over usually in the area it is,protecting itself under loose bark on trees our wherever it can tuck itself in from the cold, and goes into some sort of hibernation so it doesn't freeze!! ( Maybe a few sips of anti-freeze  : )) HaHa
They can life span of up to 10 months!!
In early spring it emerges. mates, the female lay's the eggs and the adults dies!
By late summer there is the new hatch !!

The Mourning Cloak a real beauty!!

They feed mainly on tree sap, thus the reason they may be seen as early as March

on a warm Spring day !

 The trees start to warm, and the sap runs!!

I usually see them basking in the sun around the house !!

Butterflies are cold blooded (like some people I know : )

thus the reason for the basking to get energy!

  They fly best on sunny days 

In disguise sometimes hard to spot with the under colors blending 

well especially on bark!!

I tried to find the reasoning for the name , but it seems to be mostly about the idea of the 

of attire worn in years past,that of the black brown cloak in mourning of death!!

In England it's common name is the 

Camberwell Beauty (correct me if I am wrong)!! 

I came cross this what I would call a poem, but was written  as a song by an 

Professor of English !

It was written over 10 year ago and was recorded in the early 2000's 

as a Ballard !!

You can stop reading here, but I am going to include it anyway : )

I do like some of the early poets work, and this reads like it could have been in that era!! 

It also made me giggle a bit!!

One fair morning late in June

The sun shone on the daisies bright 

When a messenger of of sorrow deep
Came into my garden bright 

Wings of deepest velvet black

Bound with gold and sapphires rare

A butterfly, a Mourning Cloak

Like one a wealthy widow'd ware 

He promised me a golden ring 

But he gave it to a rich man's child

He craved the ease wealth would bring

Above a love both true and wild

So I called him to our trysting place

"Since there is no hope, lets kiss and part"

He took me in a sweet embrace

And he felt a penknife in his heart

He looked at me with fading eyes

I left him as he left me

The dawn next morning brought the news

That he'd been set upon by thief's

Oh butterfly, why do you haunt ?

Know you the secret in my breast?

I pierced his heart as he pierced mine

I slew the one I loved the best!