This is the tenth post in my series inspired by the species featured in my
2024 calendar, Wildlife of East Otago.
If you’d prefer to listen to this newsletter, hit the play button below:
The kahukura (Vanessa gonerilla gonerilla) is the red admiral unique to Aotearoa New Zealand. There are other red admirals around the world, like Vanessa atalanta which I come across a lot in UK/US gardening resources, and there’s also a Chatham Islands sub-species (Vanessa gonerilla ida).
As some of you know, I’m on the board for the Moths & Butterflies NZ Trust (MBNZT). Here’s what the trust has to say about them:
“There are other red admirals around the world… but this one is considered the most beautiful with its colours truly symbolic of NZ: the red of the pōhutukawa, and the blue, the shades of paua.”1
I’ve written about them before, and as I was pondering how to approach today’s newsletter I saw a kahukura flutter by my second-story studio window. There’s a messy patch of cottage garden flowers right below the window, and a kōwhai currently in bloom just opposite. I watched as the kahukura would swoop down out of sight, presumably nectaring on some flowers, and then come back up to rest on our sun-drenched tile roof.
Butterflies are cold-blooded, so basking is a way to warm themselves up - most butterflies need to be at least 20℃ (68℉) just to fly!2 I’ve observed this behaviour before, watching the kahukura nectar for a time and then find a spot to rest flat against a warm surface to heat up.
Early spring and late autumn are the easiest times to see this happening, presumably because of the cooler weather.
In the photographs here you can see a kahukura basking on a rugby pole, and another on a broken concrete block. They seem to particularly like wood, stone, and metal surfaces.
So, when you’re building your butterfly garden with food, water, shelter, and the all-important host plants - don’t forget to include some areas to allow for butterflies to do a bit of sunbathing!
A bit like some of us, butterflies will follow the sun so make sure you have surfaces that catch the sun during all parts of the day.
For further reading, check out my newsletter on the NZ red admiral vs. the monarch, or my argument for keeping a woodpile for wildlife in your garden. And, of course, the MBNZT have a fantastic course on creating butterfly habitat specifically for New Zealand gardens.
Good luck bringing butterflies to your garden!
Zenobia
If you would like to support The Dwindle River Garden with a small one-off donation, tap the button below.
https://www.nzbutterflies.org.nz/species-info/red-admiral/
https://www.pnas.org/doi/pdf/10.1073/pnas.1906356117