Oh, ho, ho, it's magic, you know...

Carrie and I took advantage of the coolish weather on Monday and made our last trip to Magic Wings in South Deerfield until the fall when it begins to cool down again.  While in the dead of winter, it feels fantastic in there, it’s just too hot when the temps outside are above 50.  At least, it is for me.  The butterflies seem to manage just fine.

They hire great interpreters there.  The “Flight Attendants” are knowledgeable and friendly.  We always learn something when we go to Magic Wings.

One thing I learned this time was that a butterfly that I thought was a Blue Morpho is actually an Owl Butterfly.  I figured that the Blue Morpho just kind of faded as it got older, but I was wrong.

Here’s the Blue Morpho:

The Blue Morpho has multiple dots on its wings.

And is bright blue on the upper side.  Poor butterfly.  A little worse for wear.

Here’s the Owl Butterfly:

The Owl Butterfly has one big "eye" on its wings.

And is more of a muted greyish blue on top.

When I looked at them more closely, I could see lots of differences that I didn’t catch with a casual glance, so I also learned that I shouldn’t just make assumptions.  And that made me think of my father-in-law Bill who used to say that assume makes an ass of u and me.

Carrie and I learned a bit about these cool little Leopard Geckos.  One thing is that they can “drop” their tails when faced with a difficult situation with a predator and the tale will grow back eventually.  The tail stores nutrition for the little animal somewhat like a camel’s hump.   And when it grows back, it is without the original ridges and is more stumpy like the tail on the animal on the right hand side here:

We got to pet a Leopard Lizard.  They feel so wonderful and seem to like being stroked by humans.

The last time we spent time at Magic Wings, we were told that often the butterflies are attracted to certain bright colors.  So Carrie decided to dress to see if they would come to her.  Here she is taking a photo of Pork Chop, the Colombian Tegu who resides there, but there are no butterflies on her.

For whatever reason, that day the butterflies seemed to prefer this fellow who dressed down for the occasion.  He walked around with this butterfly hitching a ride on his hat for a good ten minutes.  Go figure!

I’ll throw in a portrait of Pork Chop just for grins.  As you can see, he’s a big fellow.

Who needs sleight of hand and women being sawed in half when you can go to Magic Wings?  Nature certainly has all the magic I need.