Green Party co-leader James Shaw was lost for words after he was interrupted during a campaign stop in Dunedin on Sunday.
Shaw was speaking at a climate change event in the Otago Museum's Tropical Forest on Sunday night, when one of the forest's butterfly inhabitants landed on the microphone he was using.
"Now, that has never happened to me before."
After the initial shock, Shaw then spent a few seconds admiring the insect calling it extraordinary, before continuing on with his speech.
Those in the crowd at the time, then later on social media, were quick to compare the interruption to a similar incident where a sparrow perched on American presidential candidate Bernie Sander's podium during a campaign rally in 2016.
Shaw was in Dunedin promoting Green Party policies on Sunday and Monday.
