Carleton University Butterfly Show 2012 – Day 1 – Foggy Day
The day started out rather foggy as I headed out along the Queensway on my way to the Carleton University Butterfly Exhibit at the Nesbitt Biology Building Greenhouses (location) but the warm sun soon cleared away the fog and I arrived at the greenhouses without incident. For info about the show see previous butterfly post.
This year the butterflies will be flying free in the Greenhouses from September 29th through October 8th.
If you have read somewhere that there is only one perfect way to offer up orange slices to the wisps of color that flap and glide their way from spot to spot in the Carleton University greenhouses, don’t worry too much! Most of the butterflies can’t read; so don’t know what the book might have said :-).
Each year, Ed Bruggink, who manages the greenhouses and organizes the butterfly show,tries to get a mix of interesting butterflies to release into the greenhouses and each year he tries to add a few new species into the mix. One of the new species this year is the Mexican Bluewing shown here on a yet to open flower stalk.
 
Although a very pretty blue butterfly, the Mexican Bluewing will still have a tough time getting a lot of attention if the Blue Morpho’s are displaying their beautiful florescent blue wing surfaces.
 
In addition to the Blue Morpho, another favorite among the large butterfleis would be the Owl butterfly because it is large and because it will happily come to sip juice from a fresh piece of orange.
One of my favourites that was flying around the greenhouses today is the Rice Paper butterfly also known as the Large Tree Nymph and the Paper Kite. It is showy white butterfly with a slow, floppy style of flying and when it decides to land, the landing spot can often be the arm, head or shoulder of an excited human.
An interesting butterfly is the Great Orange Tip, s striking white butterfly with clearly visible orange tips when it is flying but tough to see when it is resting with wings closed on the underside of a branch. Then it clearly resembles a dead leaf or faded flower bud rather than an exciting butterfly.
As I do each year, I spend some of my time photographing the flowers of the greenhouse. Fills in the moments when no butterflies are flying my way. This year was no exception.
Jacobinia (Justicia carnia)
Golden Trumpet Allamanda (Allamanda cathartica)
For my next visit I will focus more on the smaller butterflies and hopefully will get a chance to photograph a few more species that I haven’t photographed before.
*****
*****
