Life and Wildlife along the Little Buffalo River

I saw about 20 morning cloak butterflies at Erbie, AR. on Monday. Mourning cloak butterflies are some of the very few that can survive our winters here in the American Midwest. This specimen has awakened from its winter diapause and is tapping an energy source, tree sap, which is available before any of the flowering plants have started operations. They were beautiful and this may have been their first day out in 2012.