Not Too Late for Butterflies
At the Live Butterfly Garden in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, I learned that blue butterflies are common in South America.
The Common Blue Morpho is a trickster, though. It’s brown on the outside and only shows its iridescent blue when it opens its wings.
Blue Morpho’s are not shy butterflies and are likely to land on you, especially if you’re wearing a blue shirt.
“It reminds me of a kite,” I said to Joe about this one. He looked up the name and it was “paper kite.”
This one looks like it lost some of its purple spots.
I remember thinking that the museum butterflies were more prone to stay posed than the ones in my backyard. I felt sad to learn that they only live for a few weeks.
We had four hours for each two days we were in D.C. to see museum exhibits. It worked because of the internet and planning what I wanted to see ahead of time. The live butterfly show was among the top three on my list (THIS was #1 and THIS was also in the top 3).
The exhibit didn’t disappoint.
HERE is a good write-up and video clip of the Smithsonian’s Live Butterfly Pavilion.
______Our World Tuesday_____I Heart Macro
October 7th, 2014 12:11 pm
I will have to come back to see this video….The Butterflies are utterly gorgeous! I did not know they only live a few days—that makes me sad, too! You may only have had a few hours each day, my dear Colleen, but you used them to the fullest! What a wonderfully rich trip!
October 7th, 2014 2:32 pm
How special to have them land on you!
October 7th, 2014 3:24 pm
I love butterflies – so much that I even painted them on two 24 x 24 inch ones. I have never seen a live blue one. Thanks for sharing these beautiful ones!
October 7th, 2014 6:07 pm
What delicate creatures. – Margy
October 7th, 2014 6:18 pm
I was there months ago with my grandson. Like ships in the night are we.
October 7th, 2014 6:56 pm
Oh how I would love to visit here. beautiful butterflies, especially the blue morpho I believe you called it.
October 8th, 2014 5:13 am
Who knew? So blue! Beautiful.
October 8th, 2014 6:04 am
Beautiful Butterflies…..:)
October 9th, 2014 11:13 am
Four hours isn’t much time when it comes to the Smithsonian museums. This exhibit would have made my list — love the paper kite butterfly.