Friday, September 15, 2006

Butterfly Dance ~ Quadrille

Last night on my way back into the house after I looked for the cat, I noticed a 4-butterfly Butterfly Dance being performed in front of me. When they lighted on the tree branch, I was amazed to see the branch flutter with about 10 more sets of wings.

So rather than a quadrille it was a  butterfly drill team... a fifty member drill team.

 

A small flock? herd? gaggle? of Monarch Butterflies are hanging out in one of my Black Walnut trees (a few in the juniper right next to it) Tonight I counted 54. While most of them where still.. this afternoon I counted 47. I don't know if they are using us as a way-station or if they are all from right close and they are gathering to fly to Mexico together... but seeing them all hanging out  here in my yard is just about the coolest thing I've seen in "nature" in a long long time. Aside from the Butterfly house in Souix Falls South Dakota it is the most butterflies I have seen in one place. ever. I don't know how long they will stick around, or if they will .. today was nice and warm and I expected they would be gone... but they have been here for 24 hours at least....

 

 

 

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2 comments:

  1. Heh. Those are lovely. We have a bunch of poop cacoons over here right now. They are all over my neighbors and my own evergreens. My kids love to watch them change and hatch. We even opened a few that had hatched and a few that had failed. Good science and free too.

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  2. Those are *so* neat. Maybe if we move to the new place, they'll show up there too!

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