Frizztext’s story challenge this week on Flickr Comments is the letter B http://flickrcomments.wordpress.com/2012/07/10/story-challenge-letter-b/ and for this one I chose butterflies. Recently I visited the Butterflies and Blooms exhibit at the Chicago Botanic Garden and was rewarded by some amazing opportunities to get close-up shots of these elusive beauties.
In their natural habitat they are not the easiest of subjects to capture on camera but there were so many varieties fluttering around in the exhibit and they were so obliging, allowing visitors to approach at close quarters while they rested on leaves, flowers, rocks and, if we were really lucky, us. In fact it was necessary to walk very carefully around the path as many of them were settling right there on the ground beside us.
The names of some of butterflies that are kept in the 2,800-square-foot mesh enclosure are quite exotic but their common names are much easier to pronounce. They include Red Postman, Paper Kite, Blue Morpho, Lacewing, Malachite and Blue Pansy and they come from South America, Asia and Africa as well as North America.
The types of butterflies change from week to week as new ones are added to the collection and there is actually an observation window where you can see them hatch out.
It’s interesting to see how the kids react to all this. Some are absolutely thrilled to have the butterflies fluttering around and landing on them. Others are afraid and one little tot that I observed waved them away, telling them to “Get out of here butterflies!” But, overall, kids and adults seemed absolutely wowed by this colorful display.