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.

Blessed be...

The perfect antidote to the hustle and bustle of this time of year is a trip to Magic Wings in Deerfield, Massachusetts.  I went yesterday with my daughter Carrie and her friend from her camera club, M. J. to take a few snaps of the butterflies…

M. J. snapped this one of me and a friend.

We enjoyed the cheer of the bright flowers.

When we left, it was golden hour, which this time of year might better be called “golden fifteen minutes.”

This morning we woke to a dusting of snow.

Winter Solstice Chant

Children of the Earth,

we have come to sing to each other,

Sister to Brother,

songs of our Mother Earth.

Children of the Earth,

Autumn soon will breathe her last breath and

quick will her death bear

witness to Winter’s Birth.

Children of the Earth,

can you feel the air getting cold as

darkness takes hold and

sleep covers Mother Earth?

Children of the Earth,
we have come to sit in the darkness,
breathe in the silence,
think of our Mother Earth.

~Phillip Palmer

A peaceful Winter Solstice to all of you.  Blessed be.

Who are you?

It’s hard to fathom how many different kinds of butterflies and moths there are in the world until you attempt to identify one.  Can you believe I just spent about forty-five minutes trying to give this guy a name?

The Postman is feeling a little randy.

As it turns out, I’m still not sure if it is a Piano Key Butterfly or a Postman Butterfly.  But, I guess it really doesn’t matter for my purposes, which is just to show off the photos I took when I went to Magic Wings with my daughter Carrie last week.  In fact, I came across a site on the Interweb that says that the Piano Key and the Postman are one and the same.  So I will go along with that bit of wisdom.  It is the Heliconius Melpomene.  Yes, it does makes me feel smart to spout the Latin name even though I managed to wriggle my  way out of taking Latin 2 in high school.

This beauty is the Cairns Birdwing (or Ornithoptera euphorion) and is a native of Australia.

And here is the Euploea core aka the Common Crow butterfly.  He is common in south Asia.  This particular Common Crow was having a hard time settling down.  I just love those spots.

This is the aptly named Zebra Longwing or Heliconius charithonia.  He is found in South and Central America and as far north as Texas and Florida.

This Malabar Tree Nymph (Idea malabarica) was interested in Carrie’s camera.  This species is normally found in India.  I think this is one of the jauntiest butterflies going so I call it the Prom Dress Butterfly.

But, here’s my particular favorite because I love blue.  It’s known as Peleides Blue Morpho, Common Morpho, or The Emperor (Morpho peleides).  This butterfly is found in Mexico, Central America and northern South America.  Can you imagine stepping out your front door and finding these flying around?  That would be sweet.

We had a terrific time at Magic Wings.  I am grateful to have a place to go to see these magnificent creatures in the flesh.  But both Carrie and I decided that we won’t be going back until it gets cold out again.  I guess butterflies like the kind of weather that makes me feel like a wet rag.  That’s not so great when it’s 70 or 80 degrees out F. but does feel nice when it’s 10 degrees F. out.

The butterflies seemed particularly active when we were there.  Could it be mating season?

Looking for lizard babies…

My daughter Carrie has a thing for lizards of all kinds.  Well, if truth be told, I like them quite a lot, too.  So when Carrie found out that there were two new chameleon babies born at Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory, she wanted to go and I decided that I wanted to go with her.  Yesterday we finally made it.  Both of us have been fighting colds but managed to get past them enough that we could make the trip.

 

Here’s what we saw.  

I think this butterfly should be called the “My next prom dress is going to look just like this” butterfly.  I think that they are just as festive as they can be.

There are always hibiscus flowers at Magic Wings in various stages of unfolding.

This butterfly knows that pink flowers really show off his nice chocolate brown wings.

This bearded dragon was really in a mood to pose yesterday.

But here’s what we came to see.  This precious little thing was just about an inch and a half long not including its tail.  You can see that it is a male as its horns are just starting to sprout.  The other baby was not being nearly as cooperative.

Missing the Blue: The Story of My Life These Days…

One day a couple of weeks ago, I was perusing my Facebook page and came across an announcement from Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory that there was an influx there of Blue Morpho butterflies.  I was feeling a bit better from the cold that has plagued me since the beginning of the year, so that sounded like a good field trip for me and my daughter Carrie.  We found a date when we were both free and I drove out to Northampton and went on to Magic Wings in South Deerfield.  I didn’t realize until we got there that it was Martin Luther King Day.  The place was full of kids.  Now, don’t get me wrong.  I think it’s great that kids go to Magic Wings and places like that, but it does make the place more crowded.  Oh, well…might as well enjoy it anyhow.

You know me enough to know that the one thing I truly enjoy about outings like this is that I can take hundreds of photos.  That just makes me happy.  I was so looking forward to capturing that magnificent blue on those Blue Morpho butterflies.  Well, what I didn’t realize is that you only see the blue while they are flying.  Once they land, the wings go together….ZIP!  And all you see is the brown that is the underneath.  With the remnants of my cold and the crowded conditions slowing me down, I got ZIP!   I shouldn’t complain.  There are many butterflies who probably envy that nice brown bottom of the Blue Morpho because it is beautiful in its own right.  But I was disappointed.  I wanted that blue.

The beautiful underneath of the Blue Morpho.  

The best of a bad batch!  At least you can see the blue.

We did see other cool things that day, including a new family of Bearded Dragons and a really cool fern frond that was beginning to unfurl.

The Hibiscus flowers were a nice bright spot on a very dreary, very cold day.

But I am disappointed that I couldn’t get that blue.  Seems like the story of my life these days.  I started out 2013 with that darn cold that is just now beginning to go away.  Then managed to pick up a stomach virus.  So missing the Blue Morpho is just par for the course.

  Things can only get better….right?

Leaving reality behind…

While I was looking at my photos from the trip Carrie and I took out to the butterfly conservatory Magic Wings in South Deerfield, Massachusetts, I was overcome with a feeling that I had to do something out of the ordinary with some of the pics.  I usually don’t overly process my photos.  Usually I just crop and adjust the exposure enough to make them look the way I remember seeing them in real life.  But you know, with the available software out there, it’s kind of fun to take a flight of fantasy now and then.

So here are a few of the pics from that day that I got carried away with.  I know they aren’t everyone’s cup of tea but I had fun.

Carrie the Butterfly Girl

Reality hits…

I so enjoyed the trip Carrie and I took to the Magic Wings place in South Deerfield, Massachusetts.  A lot of the pictures I got made it look like I was in the jungles of South America or Africa hunting down butterflies in the wild.  Well, the truth is (DUH!) that Magic Wings consists of two large rooms filled with plants that make butterflies happy.  So they make it is easy for you to make believe that you were on a butterfly safari when you get those photos home.

 

Of course, not all the butterflies are cooperative when it comes to feeding this fantasy.  Some of them refuse to land on the green plants but have to stop on walls or benches or even on the floor of the place.  Please watch where you are walking if you ever go there.

 

All the shots I am posting today are of uncooperative butterflies.  

Enjoying magic wings…

Beautiful and graceful, varied and enchanting, small but approachable, butterflies lead you to the sunny side of life.  And everyone deserves a little sunshine.  ~Jeffrey Glassberg

I couldn’t put it better myself.  While I know very little about butterflies, I always like seeing one.  They definitely light up the world.

Well, after a few false starts, my daughter Carrie and I finally got the chance to go to Magic Wings, a butterfly conservatory in South Deerfield, Massachusetts.  And we had a delightful time.

I got so many photos I don’t even know where to begin so I guess I will just post a few and go from there.

 

Like I said, I know very little about butterflies so I don’t know any details about what kind these are.  And they weren’t flying around with tags on them or anything.  If there’s someone out there who knows and wants to let me know, I would appreciate it.  Meanwhile, I will just enjoy the fact that they are beautiful, graceful, varied, enchanting and approachable.  Hope you like them, too.