As well as nectar, butterflies feed on overripe fruit juices, tree sap and manure liquids; additionally, they siphon toxins off leaves to deter potential predators or use these as defense mechanisms against unwanted visitors.
Assuring bees and butterflies visit your garden can be achieved through growing an assortment of blooming flowers, including perennial plants such as sedum spurium (above), fennel, rocket thistle. Shrubs and trees also create ideal habitat conditions.
Contents
Bees
Bees in your garden are attracted by two main food sources – nectar and pollen. Nectar acts like sweet syrup to supply carbohydrates needed for honey production while pollen contains protein and fats essential to bee larvae development.
Bees land on flowers to collect pollen with their mouthparts and carry it off as they fly, helping ensure the next generation of bees has access to food sources. Pollination helps ensure their survival.
To attract bees into your garden, plant flowers that provide rich pollen sources; flat-topped blooms should make landing easier; plants with fragrant leaves provide cover; you could even add a bee hotel or vegetable patch as part of their support network.
Butterflies
Butterflies rely on nectar, an energy-rich nectar-like liquid found in flowers, as a source of fuel for flight. While probing for nectar from these blooms, butterflies may also pick up pollen on their legs, mouths, wings and pollen collecters on their legs or pollen collecters on their wings – while their long proboscis tubes allow them to access deep-hidden nectar sources that bees can’t access.
Certain butterflies such as monarchs and painted ladies are known for their spectacular migrations to warmer climates in winter. You can help support local butterflies by planting native shrubs and flowers such as daisies, banksias, buddleias and tea trees – they provide much-needed sustenance to support butterfly populations!
Plants with vibrant hues and fragrant blooms such as zinnias, lantanas and parsley are irresistible to butterflies, as are tubular flowers like those produced by buddleias or flat-topped blooms – just as with bees, offering an assortment of blooming plants is key in drawing them in.
Hummingbirds
Hummingbirds use their tiny wings to fly effortlessly between flowers in search of nectar-laden blossoms, using only their efforts when nectar concentrations exceed certain thresholds. When nectar concentrations fall short of expectations they quickly move on in search of those boasting higher concentrations.
Pollen and other parts of plants such as fruits, seeds, fungi and tree sap are also consumed by bees, as well as gathering insects and spiders from their surroundings to provide additional protein, fat and salts not obtained through nectar alone.
Female birds build the cup-shaped nest using bits of cobweb, bark and lichen; males then communicate with her through aerial displays and short warbling songs; they are very territorial birds who aggressively defend their feeding territories.
Moths
Although bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds tend to get all of the press for being pollinators insects, moths are equally essential pollinators creatures. Their adults use long proboscises to sip nectar from flowers as they transport pollen from one bloom to the next.
As is often the case for butterflies, moths also frequent flowers belonging to their respective species to feed on sweet nectar from them; but recent research indicates they also play an integral part in cross-pollination compared to earlier beliefs.
Butterfly larvae typically feed on specific plant parts; moth larvae often consume an assortment of leaves, stems, fungi, insects and liquids from leaves and stems to juice from ripe fruit as well as manure or animal droppings. While moths tend to feed off leaves more exclusively than butterflies do; their larvae also often sucke sap out of trees while sucking up manure and animal droppings for nourishment.
Bats
Numerous bat species consume bees as part of their diet, which has the potential to alter ecosystems significantly, as bees form part of a food chain for birds, spiders, lizards, mice and other insects.
Just like bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies, bats contribute significantly to pollinating flowers and plants. Furthermore, bats serve an invaluable function by preying upon insects that threaten crops; their numbers help control pest populations effectively.
Most bats are insectivorous, while others, called frugivores, prefer eating fruit such as figs, mangoes, dates and bananas – they have even been known to drink from hummingbird feeders! Bats can often be seen at night circling flowering trees or wildflower fields using echolocation to locate prey before gathering in groups of three or five known as “puddle clubs”.