Hummingbird and Butterfly Gardening: Zebra Longwings in mid-SC, 1 by vitrsna

vitrsna wrote:
EFGeorgia1...lots of things will eat the Monarchs. I have seen birds eat them and i hope that it makes them really sick. I suppose these birds are among the uninitiated. Also lizards and gekkos will eat them, and spiders. Ants will eat pre-flight Monarchs and i have even seen ants abort the ready but not yet eclosed Monarchs and eat up. It appears that any kind of insect or any of the cold blooded group of critters can eat Monarchs without ill effects. I'm not sure about that but this is what i have observed in my own garden after 5 years of Monarchs and other butterflies that have toxic host plants and therefore are toxic (not to mention foul tasting) themselves, like the Aristolochia swallowtails for example. I'm not sure if dogs and cats will eat them. The toxicity will give these butterflies some protection from birds, but they have lots of predators.

In the spirit of sharing photos, here is a Glassy-winged Skipper (Xenophanes tryxus) that greeted me in the garden this morning.