Lofty Intentions

 At the Tucson Botanical Gardens, you'll discover the tropical butterfly exhibit at Butterfly Magic.   The exhibit will be open until April 30th.  After that you'll have to wait until October....or you could go to the tropics.  That's fun as well:) 

The Postman Butterfly(Heliconius melpomene) found in Panama and parts of Mexico, South and Central America. 

 Most of the butterflies are shipped from parts of Africa, Australia, Central and South America.

 It was a nonbusy gardening day and I had to get some photo work done for a post on Rock Gardens this month.  It's easy to capture butterflies while they are on a flower, but todays photo shoot was about capturing them in flight.  And that is NOT easy.  I think they're harder to capture than most birds! 

The Cairns Birdwing Butterfly(Ornithoptera euphorion) This is a female. The butterflies are found on the Northeastern coast of Australia.

 If you visit the exhibit, remember that it does get warm inside the building and it's humid.  If you wear glasses or are planning on doing some photography, you'll need to give yourself some time to unfog your camera or eye lense:)

It's quite the show and everytime I go, I see something different.  While it was a challenge doing photography with A LOT of people inside, I got some shots that I'm okay with....don't ask what happened to the 400 + that weren't chosen for this post:)  More tomorrow.....

Butterfly Magic at the Tucson Botanical Gardens 2011

The Tucson Botanical Gardens now presents Butterfly Magic until April 30th, 2012 of next year.

 There's always something going on in the gardens.  Tickets are 4 dollars for members and 5 dollars for non members.

 Butterfly magic is open from 9AM to 3 PM each day.

 It does get humid inside the building.  A stamp will be issued to revisit if you need a break from the heat.

 Bring your camera and have lots of fun! 

 The exhibit has butterflies from all over the world and is constantly changing their display. It's Arizona's only live TROPICAL butterfly exhibit. It's pretty awesome.

Here's a video I shot last year.