Friday, March 13--The Tropical Conservatory at the Butterfly House was filled with thousands of fluttering wings. The main attraction was the release of Blue Morphos (a resting one is above) that are native to Costa Rica. Most of the Blue Morphos were too excited to light, since they had emerged just that day. But some finally rested.
What do you feed a captive butterfly? Well, if you have a greenhouse full of Blue Morphos, you can offer them banana slices. Dishes like this were scattered throughout. The underside of the wings are spotted in a distinctive pattern.
Now I am really grateful for the new camera, as it was possible to get closeups like this one of a Blue Morpho feeding.
The second most common species in the conserv- atory on Friday were the Paper Kites from Malaysia and the Philippines. These butterflies are the same on top and bottom, unusual for most of the species here. This is the same one that is exploring Norm's hand in the first post.
Somehow I messed up and loaded several pictures on the right side instead of alternating them. These black and white beauties were found resting throughout the conservatory. The identification guide says this is a Sailor that also hails from Malaysia. Seeing them made me think of zebras.
Two different species rested side by side near one of the educational stations for children to check their worksheets. Neither of them appears on my identification guide and I have no idea what they are. But they are so lovely!
Norm caught this bright visitor at rest with our old Olympus and it looks pretty good! This is another species that doesn't appear in the identification guide, unfortunately. This is the only one like it that either of us saw during the hour we were inside.
Only one moth, the Atlas Moth from Malaysia, resides at The Butterfly House. The guide doesn't explain why. But I had to try a closeup using my macro of one wing, which was bathed in sunlight while the other one was in shadow. We loved our time in the tropics, short as it was.
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