Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Do Trout Eat Butterflies

Here is a question for you, Do trout eat butterflies?  I have hear of them eating caterpillars if they fall from a overhanging tree but I am not sure if they would go after a full grown butterfly.  I thought about this idea last summer when I was rock hopping up a mountain stream, chasing trout, and watching swarms of the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterflies fluttering up and down the water.  Incidentally the Easter Tiger Swallowtail is the South Carolina state butterfly - now you can say you learned something today. 
This butterfly is not the Eastern Tiger.  It is the Eastern Comma Butterfly and is also one of North Americas most common butterflies.  It is also one of the most people friendly and it is not uncommon to have one flutter up from your front yard and land on you hand.  Here is another question; Is it wrong for a grown man to know so much about butterflies?  Or  Is it wrong for a grown man to know so much about the insect world in general?  I don't know but I have always been fascinated with these little guys and defend my interest in them as a scientific interest an not just an interest in their beauty.
I made this for a friend of mine so it is not for sale.  It is another watercolor sized 8x10 on top quality watercolor paper.  She is by all accounts obsessed with butterflies and I thought this a fitting gift for Christmas.  I am fairly confident she seldom if ever reads this blog so I am not taking to much of a chance posting this here despite the fact that this is going to be her Christmas present.

3 comments:

Mark Kautz said...

For most of us that are fly fishers, entomology is a basis for what we do. If a butterfly slips in, more the better.

Mark

Unknown said...

My thoughts exactly! Thanks Shoreman.

Brian J. said...

According to ralph cutter trout do indeed eat butterflies...