Flutter Me Bad

Brown Clipper

And so the Tucson Botanical Gardens begin another year of Butterfly Magic. On this day I was astounded by the new additions to the greenhouse!  It was fun getting back to the docent work.

Great Mormon Butterfly

We've had some new additions like the Great Mormon and Julia butterfly, but there were certainly more:)  The best part this year is that the Butterfly Magic is included as part of the entrance fee at the gardens. So if you've never been to one of these events, it's worth checking out.

Julia Butterfly

The butterflies of Southern Arizona are quite different from their tropical siblings. In essence, I sit studying charts and names to help me ID these beauties.  I can point out our butterflies here in the desert but I still have a hard time with the tropicals.  So today I studied the Great Mormon butterfly with great interest.

Birdwing Butterfly

Of course some of the popular regulars include the Atlas Moth.  I believe as of this write a Lunar Moth also went into the greenhouse.  Another beauty in the moth world.

Atlas Moth

So while things will hopefully cool off soon, this place will be warm and humid all year round.  As a docent, we rotate out in 3 shifts over 3 hours.  Entrance, educator, and Exit.  This year I have several students volunteering from the high school and I hope they enjoy it as much I do.

If you live in Tucson and are interested in becoming a docent at the Tucson Botanical Gardens, contact (520)326-9686, Ext. 39 or email education1@tucsonbotanical.org for more information. And as always, more tomorrow......

Lacewing Butterfly

Butterfly Magic at the Gardens

Frosty.  Rainy. Cold morning.  Until I got to the butterfly exhibit and then it was....hot, humid, and steamy.  I don't know what both extremes will do to a body, but I'll find out tonight. Hopefully I won't get sick. On this gray and cloudy day, a moment of sunshine and color presented itself in the gardens!  Today I went to volunteer at the gardens in the butterfly exhibit and it was a wonderful contrast to what was really going on outside.  I love conservatories and greenhouses because you can grow things inside that you normally wouldn't be able to plant outside....for example, you'll see tillandsias(or air plants) all around the tropical garden.  Here are pics and a vid from today's outings.

The Morphos Butterfly(wings closed)

                                                                 Morphos with wings open.

The exhibit will be open until April 30th, 2011. 

The Glass Wing Butterfly

Birdwing Butterfly

The video contains several shots from the exhibit before visitors arrived plus you'll get to see how they move about the greenhouse.

The Atlas Moth

Tomorrow I'll show what we did to prepare for the super freeze that is happening tonight and throughout the weekend.