It's a Shoe-in!

Once again, Baloo and I were out walking (we do that a lot) and we encountered a very active little butterfly fluttering around nearby. I wanted to get a closer look and maybe even take a picture or two so that I could identify it and maybe even use it for blog post or carving inspiration. And when I say nearby, I mean that it was flying all around us and frustrating any attempt at a capturing a photo. 

Then, for some inscrutable reason of its own, it decided to land on the edge of my shoe, which was close enough for a picture, but not a very useful one. 

It started to flap its wings, but rather than fly off again, it simply climbed higher. 

Apparently there was something rather pleasing about my shoe, because it stayed for quite a while. In this picture, I was able to get a tiny glimpse of the markings on the underside of its wings. 

Interestingly, when it opened its wings fully, the markings on the top were less colorful than those on the underside, where the spots had orange rings around them. I was able to look it up when I got home and learned that it's a Little Wood-satyr butterfly. They like sweet tree sap, some mushroom secretions and they even eat the sugary honeydew that aphids create from feeding on plants.

It must have found something sweet on the top of my shoe, as you can see here, because it has its proboscis extended to take in something - and it kept at it until Baloo finally got curious enough about what was going on to come over and nose around, which sent it on its way. 

While perhaps not the most colorful of butterflies, it certainly qualifies as one of the friendliest we have had the pleasure of meeting.