The swallowtail was fluttering in the dichondra between the flagstones, seemingly too weak to lift off the green carpet for the next flower just a few feet away. 

That’s when the magic started. 

I put my hand down near her and she crawled onto my palm, unafraid, asking for help. I walked to the nearest butterfly bush and let her crawl onto the purple flowers, off my hand… and she promptly fell off, fluttering back down to the ground. 

Hmmmm now what?

I remembered reading about someone rescuing a bee with a sugar water boost, and I had just filled the hummingbird feeders with fresh nectar.

Perfect! I left her there to grab something from the kitchen, hoping against hope that my two cats weren’t nearby.*

Running back out, I tipped the feeder enough to pour out some sweet juice (into a salsa jar lid of all things, but hey it worked!) and picked her back up, balancing her between the blossoms and the lid. 

After what felt like an eternity she stopped slurping up the juice and flew to the nearest orange tithonia blossom, posing for a good 10 minutes or so while I took pic after pic of her, fascinated by the up close and personal view of such a magnificent creature. 

After the sunflower chaser she finally fluttered up and away, off to the next flower and to brighten someone else’s day. 

One of the last pics looked like this.
Now I’m not so sure it was a butterfly at all.

*Chase and Luca are great at keeping the rats away but we don’t share the same kind of appreciation for butterflies and lizards!