Flutterby

Mariposa. Skoenlapper. Schmetterling (...though it hardly deserves it). Ibhabhathane. Papillon. Serurubele.

It came to visit my mother's sunbird feeding station, where the small, bright or dull (depending on their sex) birds sip on beetroot water and honey.

It had been around, with a friend, for a few days, and we don't know what it is.

Last night we found it upside-down, dead. Very sad.

Ed, 02-06-2009: ID - Whitebarred Charaxes, or Witstreepdubbelstert. "Common inhabitant of subtropical and temperate forest and thick bush, from the Eastern Cape to Transkei, Natal, Swaziland, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Northern Botswana...feed on fermenting fruit, at sucking holes in trees and from ANIMAL DROPPINGS."

Mark Williams, Butterflies of Southern Africa, Southern Book Publishers, 1994

Eenteresteen'...

What are they doing here?