# Watering the butterflies

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watering-the-butterflies/594582>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [August 30, 2011, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watering-the-butterflies/594582 "2011-08-30T02:38:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watering-the-butterflies/594582/1 "2011-08-30T02:38:53Z")

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This weekend I decided to get out an old sprinkler to try to revive my bone-dry lawn. It turned out most of the holes were plugged with grunge, so it was more of a mister than a sprinkler. I left the water running to try to unclog it, and soon there were tons of butterflies in the mist. Mostly tiny blue and yellow ones, with some bigger ones.

I have a lot of butterflies all the time, because I have lots of weeds/wildflowers, but not as clustered as this. As long as I’m watering the dogs, cats and horses, I might as well water the butterflies.

StG

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**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watering-the-butterflies/594582/2 "2011-08-30T02:50:55Z")

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That’s neat, I can picture it! I’ve seen them sit on a rock to drink out of a puddle but I bet they loved the mist!

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**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watering-the-butterflies/594582/3 "2011-08-30T02:54:18Z")

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That is a nice mental image, and refreshing!

Now…take pics 😃

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**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watering-the-butterflies/594582/4 "2011-08-30T17:01:01Z")

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> [@Nawth\_Chucka](#):
>
> That’s neat, I can picture it! I’ve seen them sit on a rock to drink out of a puddle but I bet they loved the mist!

Funny thing is, I see all kinds of insects drink from the horse troughs, but never butterflies. But if I let the troughs over run and the ground gets muddy, they’re all over that.

This morning before work I let the sprinkler run for about a half hour since there wasn’t any dew. Hopefully it’ll give them a good drink.

StG

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**Author:** ![slightly\_askew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d07c76/32.png) [@slightly\_askew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slightly_askew)\
**Post date:** [September 1, 2011, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watering-the-butterflies/594582/5 "2011-09-01T15:41:28Z")

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If the butterflies are going after muddy ground they are probably puddling which allows them to get nutrients and salts not found in flower nectar. [www.thebutterflysite.com/butterfly-behavior.shtml](http://www.thebutterflysite.com/butterfly-behavior.shtml)

I don’t know why they’d go for the mist from the sprinkler, but I would have liked to have seen it. 🙂