Red Admiral butterfly

This Red Admiral butterfly was buried deep in the Canada thistle plants, but there was one opening through which to shoot a photo.  Red admirals eat tree sap, fermenting fruit, and bird droppings, but in a pinch will eat flower nectar as this specimen was doing.

Canada thistle is a highly invasive species from Europe, not Canada, and this species of thistle is common in Northern Illinois.

Photo take by the asphalt path over the slough between Churchill subdivision and Rt 34 shopping centers.