Delicate wings, fluttering and tickling you as they float by, these sweet butterflies encompass life’s beauty. Being an avid butterfly lover, I look high and low for Butterfly Gardens in my travels.
One of the best ones I’ve ever visited is at the University of Florida’s Natural History Museum in Gainesville Florida. Visiting during the week in the early afternoon ensured my new found blogger friend Pegi of Florida Behind the Scenes and I had a quiet and peaceful visit.
The 6,400 foot enclosure is filled with tropical plants, birds and of course wonderful butterflies. These florescent blue Morpho butterflies are popular in Butterfly Gardens, and I’ve repeatedly wanted to capture them with their wings open. Frequently in motion, the opportunity to get one just sitting there is quite rare.
When we first walked in, we immediately stopped in our tracks, mesmerized by the sights and sounds of the garden. Butterflies surrounded us by land and by air. We were then officially greeted by the garden mascot. This Toucan flew in and was checking us out. In hopes that we had a bird cookie he kept eyeing us and looking cute in the hopes of a reward.
He finally appeared satisfied that we meant no harm and flew off for another adventure. We continued slowly down the path, stopping nearly every foot to watch a fluttering butterfly.
There are several volunteers throughout the Butterfly garden who are kind enough to spend time with you explaining the life of a butterfly and answer any questions you may have. One of the representatives showed us this Owl Moth and how its markings can help scare off predators.
I was mesmerized not only by the wonderful butterflies, but also the beautiful blooming butterfly plants which are replaced as soon as they have passed their blooming cycle.
When you think about the life of a butterfly, it is a brief but wonderful life. With life spans from one week up to approximately a year, these creatures exemplify what life should be about.
Stop and smell the flowers, sip their sweet nectar, flutter around playing with friends and dance along the water’s edge.
Categories: Foot Prints
Emily Carter ~ Nature as Art 
Beautiful Photos – Happy Thursday:)
Thanks Renee ! I’m still working on the new look. What do you think?
Wonderful post, wonderful photos. Butterflies are so beautiful but I have never seen as many nice ones as this. You must have enjoyd that visit a lot.
You are so sweet Bente ! I haven’t even gone through all the butterfly photos yet from other places. Hope all is well with you!
Absolutely beautiful!! Your butterflies are very similar to ours at the SFla gardens — just lovely images! ♥
Thank you so much Fey!
I recently visited a small butterfly farm in Wales, UK, so I know how difficult they are to photograph. I daren’t show mine…… but yours are just fabulous.
Thank you so much John ! They are most certainly a challenge to get on ‘film.’
Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you back soon.
Bella
These are great. What Camera and lenses do you use? I use Nikon, but always like to hear what others use as there is the huge debate about sharpness etc.
Hi Ken,
Well, for this field trip I took a Canon 60D and 70-300mm zoom. The photos are soft and not crisp like I prefer. Also the zoom was too much zoom for this field trip, as well as was slow to focus.
I now have a Canon 7d with 24-105mm L lens that is so much better with sharpness. Perhaps next stop, full format…
The butterflys are so beautiful, amazing colors… 😉
The bird with the big mouth – I love it… ‘hahaha’
Yes Drake ! He was ready for some big eating!
I like the new blog format! Beautiful pictures!
Beautiful shots! I hope we get another chance for adventuring together soon!
Me too Pegi! It was great meeting you in person. I will be back in the fall, so plan on another adventure!