Butterflies Everywhere!! (at the Butterfly Pavilion)

I'm not necessarily a big fan of bugs. I can't stand to crush them under my feet, and when they are big and cockroach-y I scream at their sudden appearance in my office. However there are large insects that I love to see... butterflies! I've never wanted to catch them and pin them on a cork-board, but I love seeing them in nature, and I like to replicate them in my artwork.

Anyway, on our way to Boulder, at the end of our summer vacation, I saw a sign for the Butterfly Pavilion. So, my musings over what I was going to do as my husband spent the next two days writing by his favorite creek came to an end. I knew what I would do.

 

(a female green birdwing resting on my arm)

I got to the pavilion in the late morning and figured I would stay until I'd had enough, which would give me about a 6-hour block of time to play in the sun with the little beauties.

These are African Blue-Banded Swallowtails:

 

After cruising through their less-than-inspiring bugs in cages collection, I headed into the butterfly habitat. I walked into heaven. It was quite hot and humid, so it took a while for my body temperature to adjust. And not long after I entered, I made a friend. One of the volunteers, John, started telling me all about these pretty creatures. He was a wealth of information. We talked of the animals, of how he became a naturalist, of the types of plants I could garden to encourage some pretty beauties to visit our home, and other assorted subjects. 

This was a male greater eggfly on John's head:

John showed me how the white spots on the eggfly can appear blue from an angle because the color is created by the iridescence of the tiny hairs on the butterfly wing.

 The Banded Orange:

One of the coolest things we saw, and it was too quick to get a photo, was a group of five white butterflies in a row, presumably in a chase! Among other things that was hard to catch was a photo of the elusive blue morpho. But I lasted long enough to finally find an open one...

A Blue Morpho:

Unlike the morpho, the clipper loved to show off. I found that I had taken more good photos of clippers than any other butterfly.

A mainland Clipper  (the brown/orange ones are from the Philippines):

 The largest butterfly the pavilion has is the birdwing. The common green birdwing is the largest butterfly in Australia, and they are really something else, both closed and open.

Birdwing:

 A male Common Green Birdwing (the females are larger and not as vibrant):

All photos copyright Katrina Kouba Boles

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