How special! I am always amazed at butterflies, they are little miracles in themselves.

I suppose a scientific explanation might be that it might have been a newly emerged butterfly, and it takes about 2 hours before they can fly.

Or, it could have just been an amazing moment, there are several people on the forum who have had amazing moments too...

What a wonderful experience!

Elaine

I'm going to chalk it up to an amazing moment...

After I took the pictures I sent them to my mom but didn't talk with her until after I had gotten home and the butterfly was gone. She told me that she saw a woman coming out of the grocery store, while my butterfly experience was happening, who looked identical to my grandmother who passed away several years ago. She then reminded me that when her jewelry had been passed around to family, my mom ended up with 2 pins of my g'mothers both of which were butterflies.

Coincidence? I choose to believe not.

She looks bright, like she's newly emerged. Newly emerged butterflies are a little wobbly, so she was just probably getting her wings. I'm glad you got to enjoy her in such an up close way!
MissSherry

From handling hundreds of Monarchs, I can tell you she was probably newly emerged, and even though fully formed, they need a good hour to dry their wings and be ready to take flight. Did you notice her expelling a small amount of liquid from her abdomen? I held one for about an hour this morning before he was ready to fly. Gentle with care, and a tresured experience! Congrads.

Perhaps you want to buy and plant some milkweed, and you will likely have many more!

Ditto Paul's note. I'd say get some Milkweed. If you want some A. curassavica seeds, let me know and I will send you some! :)

Congrats on a friendly butterfly. Butterflies ARE and can be most friendly. Check out my member page sometime. :)

As a matter of fact, there was a bright yellow drop of liquid that I noticed when her wings were closed - most of the time when she was perched on my shoulder. I believe I saw this drop emerge two or three times during her stay with me.

So a newly emerged BF huh? Wow. Interesting considering that when I picked her up, we were set up on a downtown square, next to a curb with a busy highway on the other side of that sidewalk. There just wasn't much vegetation around. But, I guess they don't necessarily need that much do they? I was so concerned that with that much traffic nearby, vehicular as well as foot, she'd easliy be hit or stepped on. That's why I tried to pick her up in the first place.

Neat to know she was just a newbie. Hope she didn't mind the 40 mile relocation!!

Thanks so much for all the info! What an amazing moment I was fortunate to experience!

Thanks for rescuing a treasure!