A stunning butterfly. Just look at those colors. Black and white, rich purplish-blue, and that red (orange?). This, the dorsal side (or top side) of the butterfly.
This is a Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) which has an impressive range including North and South America, Europe and Asia. And of course because of its vastly different homelands it also has many, many different host plants. Here in Virginia their main host plant is Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica).
Here is the ventral (underside) side of the Red Admiral. Quite a different look.
As an adult the Red Admiral has a life of about 10 months during which they consume tree sap, the juices of rotting fruit, and the moisture from bird droppings. If these choice liquids aren’t available they’ll resort to drinking the nectar of Milkweed, Clover, Aster, and Alfalfa flowers.
One of so many butterflies to make our world beautiful!
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