When we took the banana from the freezer the next day, it had a gray, mealy consistency, but it worked in our feeder. Instead of using bananas that had naturally spoiled in our kitchen, we followed the suggestion in How to Spot Butterflies by Patricia Taylor Sutton and Clay Sutton, and put a peeled banana in our freezer overnight. Determined to succeed, two years ago we fine-tuned our approach to butterfly feeding. Here, as in many other northern places, our environment is quite differentįrom that of butterfly houses, where tropical butterflies feast on honey-coated ripened fruit. Our challenge was to set up a successful feeder in our upper Midwest temperate climate. We tried many of these ingredients in feeders over several years still no butterflies were attracted to our feeding stations. Most resources suggested setting out a concoction made from different amounts of overripe bananas, watermelon, or other fruits molasses, honey sugar water, or orange juice and yeast and/or beer. We tried to follow brief butterfly feeder how-to instructions from several books. In the past we have set up butterfly feeders in our upper Midwest yard but observed no butterflies visiting them. Initially we selected locations with lots of sun, but our most successful feeders were hung from a tree, shaded most of the day. Select a location that is not easily accessible to ants and otherwise unwelcome critters. If possible, locate your feeder where you can view it from your windows or patio. Once they begin taking in nourishment, your winged guests may remain at the feeder for several minutes or more. This gives you time to gather up your camera and/or close-focusing binoculars as the butterflies maneuver around the feeder to just the right feeding spots, walking or fluttering from one location to another. Typically butterflies approaching a feeder make a number of false landings nearby before stopping to feed. Your feeder will attract species that feed on food sources such as tree sap, dung, carrion, rotting matter, and of course overripe fruit-the primary “bait” you will place in your feeder. Although not all butterfly species visit feeders, many do.
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