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?
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| 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?
