Thursday morning last week, the hubby and I visited the butterfly conservatory again. We really love it there. It is a tropical environment so it is especially nice to visit in the winter. We arrived shortly after it opened for the day and noticed there was a bus and our car but no other vehicles. I was hoping that would mean it wasn’t very crowded. The bus, however, brought a large group of high school students with cameras. I don’t know specifically if it was a photography class, or some other field trip. By the time we left, the parking lot was about half fun, and we noticed families with young children come through during our visit.
In previous visits, I have focussed mainly on the butterflies, not paying much attention to the other people. This time we sat for quite a while on one of the benches and I had a chance to observe human nature in butterfly world. There were two young men who were actually afraid of the butterflies – one was about three, and the other about 14. I was surprised. Why would anyone be afraid of a butterfly? I guess butterflies embody some form of “creepiness” in their mind like spiders do for me. The majority of the people just walked along as they would on the street, looking at the butterflies on the walls, plants, and ceiling. However, there are many butterflies that rest on the floor, and they paid them no attention. Then there were others who moved slowly, watching the floor carefully.
One of the great pleasures for me is for butterflies to land on me. Several times, I have worn a white t-shirt and that usually gets the most butterflies to land. The hubby, however, had read if you wear something bright coloured, you look like a piece of fruit and they will be attracted to you. I wore a bright pink shirt, and I did have several land on me – one while I was sitting, but two while we were walking around. We saw one young woman on whom had landed a very large butterfly – can’t remember the name of it right now but when its wings are folded, it is brown with circles on it, but the other side of the wings are an iridescent blue that is just stunning. I saw her for about half the circuit with that butterfly still sitting on her shoulder. She moved slowly and carefully, hoping not to disturb this passenger.
A young man walked along as he usually would, and showed everyone the butterfly hanging onto his track pants about at the knee. He said it had been there for at least 15 minutes. And there were some who wanted desperately for a butterfly to land on them and tried various strategies with varying success. One little girl was standing in a circle of sunshine with her arms out and her hands dropped at the wrist. Her mom told us if you stand in the sunshine, the butterflies will land. I asked if there had been any success, and she said no. I asked the little girl how long she had stood there since she looked a bit tired, and she said a long time. Others just held out a finger or hand near a plant where butterflies were sitting, but I never saw any land on the human, but rather fly off the plant. The most aggressive strategy I saw was a woman who had plucked a small flower from a plant and held it on her finger. She moved her fingers close to the butterfly’s feet, hoping she could scoop it up somehow and that the flower would entice it to sit on her hand. It just kept side-stepping her hand. She tried for quite a while, and the butterfly eventually flew away.
The one reason we sat for a while was we saw three butterflies – black with white and mauve markings – flitting about in a circle. They’d move up and down and around and around. It was like a butterfly dance, and we were captivated by the beauty of movement. We don’t know the reason for this dance, but it was intriguing to watch. One of them would get tired and land on the ground, lay flat to the ground with its wings spread. Eventually, it would raise itself up on its feet, and eventually flitter back into the dance. Once when it got tired, it landed on hubby’s leg. It stayed there for quite a while until it recovered enough to take up the dance again. We were amazed by the fragile nature of these creatures, and enjoyed spending some time in their world.
Until next time, enjoy the delicate beauty you see around you…
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