today i had a really amazing experience with a sulfur butterfly

i have spelling problems so please be nice

i usually try not to handle insects, both because im prone to shaking and also because i dont want to get skin oils on them, but i love watching them in my backyard!

im an amateur entomologist so i like to document what kinds we have in my backyard. im only sixteen so i dont really have any fancy photography gear but i try to get as many pictures as i can! so far we have had california sisters, monarchs, cloudless sulfurs, skippers of all kinds... its really awesome watching them enjoy my backyard!! and thats only the butterflies

today i was outside and i was about to go back inside after watering the plants and i noticed a female cloudless sulfur flying in my greenhouse. my first reaction was "oh crap" since ive found two dead monarch in there. my fears were confirmed when she fell into a spiderweb!!! normally i dont interfere with nature but i knew this web was abandoned and i wasnt about to let this lady die.

with the help of my mom we rescued her from the web and i (frantically) looked up how to remove spiderweb. unfortunately it seemed a lot of the tutorials were meant for dead insects. i decided to take a toothpick and very carefully and slowly start to clean her off. i got her proboscis out first but almost all of her legs were tangled up

=+[ i was really worried at this point. but i kept on going!! eventually i got her front legs free and noticed that one of her antenna was attached to her leg and i was like "crap i dont want to hurt her antenna"

i got her antenna free but it almost an hour. i felt kind of silly doing all this for a butterfly but they mean a lot to me. eventually she was all clean and i gave her some nectar!! but she didnt seem to want to leave me. eventually i coaxed her into getting onto her host plant.

im really happy!! i got to hold her which was awesome but also i got to hopefully extend her life. i spend so much time admiring the butterflies in my yard so i felt like it was the least i could do. she licked me too!!

i hope one day i can help more butterflies =+] thank you for reading, i just wanted to share this exciting happening!!!

submitted by /u/crimsonglasses1
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/Entomology/comments/i231xn/today_i_had_a_really_amazing_experience_with_a/