Adventure: The Butterfly Pavilion

REPOST:  This trip to the The Butterfly Pavilion took place in 2016.

​It was time for an adventure to the Butterfly Pavilion!

When I arrived there were a bunch of parents with tiny humans walking into the building. I laughed, and I hoped there would be enough interesting stuff for "big kids". There was.

I walked in, and this friendly elderly lady admitted me in, and told me there would be a release of new butterflies in about 5 minutes, so off I went to the part of the building with the butterflies. Don't let the name fool you, by the way. The Butterfly Pavilion has way more than butterflies. They have a plethora of bugs, arachnids, small sea creatures, and plants.

When you first walk in the door, there is this case that holds a bunch of cocoons, some of which were hatching.

The first type of butterfly I saw was the Owl Butterfly. It is super cool, and of course, looks like an owl. If you had two owl butterflies together, you could almost get a whole owl face made out of the butterfly's wings. How does nature come up with these designs? I'm incredibly fascinated.

Owl Butterfly

After the initial tree where I saw this Owl Butterfly, there was a canopied tunnel that included all sorts of beautiful flowers. Namely these Angel's Trumpets:

Angel's Trumpets

I loved the atmosphere in the pavilion. The humidity and the warmth reminded me a lot of summer in Wisconsin, and I think every pore in my skin was happy. Every few minutes it would mist, and I just loved how nice it felt. I canNOT wait for summer. Gah.

Going around the bend through the tunnel there is this little pond, with koi fish and a yellow-eared slider turtle.

The Pavilion Turtle

There were a lot of butterflies flying way above me, and I only brought my standard lens so I had to stick to photographing the butterflies that landed somewhat near me.  I have several other photographs on my external drive from this trip of butterflies from further away, but per usual, I will just be sharing the best ones here ;). 

This little guy was just perched on this leaf for the entirety of the time that the new butterflies were being released. During the release, the keeper taught us a few things about butterflies:

1. Butterfly wings are like human hair. If damaged, it doesn't harm the butterfly in a physical way, but of course it can affect the way the butterflies fly.

2. The Pavilion keeps puddles on the floor so that the butterflies who can't fly well yet can land on the ground and drink water to gain strength.

Numata Longwing Butterfly

My favorite butterfly of all, of course, is the beautiful Green Birdwing Butterfly. The beautiful green details on its wings stand out agains the black of its body and remainder of the wings.

The Green Birdwing Butterfly rests after recently being released into the Pavilion.

Below, a Lowii Swallowtail Butterfly joins the Green Birdwing Butterfly, both recently released. I'd like to think they are friends.

Butterfly Friends

While the two butterfly friends were bigger bugs, there were little guys flying around too. By the time I made it to this little butterfly, I was over half-way around the loop. Check out this adorable Zebra Longwing Butterfly and it's little purple flower:

Zebra Longwing Butterfly

This bromeliad was one of the last things I took a photograph of before leaving the butterfly room. I was attracted to it because of its bright colors, and I love the bead of water it holds in the center.

Bromeliad