mistressofmuses (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
mistressofmuses) wrote2023-07-20 08:25 pm
mistressofmuses) wrote2023-07-20 08:25 pm
The Butterfly Pavilion - again!
When we went to the gardens with my mom a couple weeks ago, we mentioned having been to the Butterfly Pavilion recently... and she sort of gave us puppy eyes and said she'd love to go to the Butterfly Pavilion, because she hasn't been there in years...
So we figured we could go back - it's a neat place, and it's at least a little different every time. So today, mom, Taylor, Alex, and I headed back there.
The orchid mantis! So cool!
Very cool stick insects. The brown one is a male and the green one is a female.
Pink-toe tarantula!
All the little baby sea stars! And a photobomb from the tang, ha.
Bat stars!
They also have a new octopus settling in. It was pretty well-hidden, but we did get to barely see it between and behind the rocks!
Horseshoe crabs and an actual crab.
It also occurred to me after we'd left last time that there was a whole damn room we hadn't gone into! It's partially a play area, and had been closed entirely for a couple years around Covid, and I just... forgot about it.
The room with displayed insects is devoted to different types of pollinators.
CAZADORES. (Tarantula hawk wasps. Allegedly the second-most painful sting of any wasp or ant. And the basis for one of the best enemy designs in Fallout: New Vegas, lol.)
Super bright metallic colors on this frog beetle!
My favorite butterfly this time! Not a kind I've seen here often. Unfortunately with a little wing damage, but such vibrant colors!
Zebra striped butterfly.
A very fresh and brightly colored swallowtail.
I love the zig-zag patterns on these guys' wings.
Feeding!
More feeding!
The morphos are so hard to catch with their wings open, lol.
The best picture (still blurry) of a morpho that I managed to get, ha. I took 26 pictures while it occasionally flicked its wings, and managed to get a grand total of 2 with wings open, lol.
It was a fun day! We had a good time, and saw some neat stuff. Our predicted severe weather (which caused us to choose the indoor option today, instead of tomorrow) didn't really materialize - we had early morning thunderstorms in the wee hours, and then some serious rain tonight. Hopefully tomorrow stays fairly clear.
So we figured we could go back - it's a neat place, and it's at least a little different every time. So today, mom, Taylor, Alex, and I headed back there.
The orchid mantis! So cool!
Very cool stick insects. The brown one is a male and the green one is a female.
Pink-toe tarantula!
All the little baby sea stars! And a photobomb from the tang, ha.
Bat stars!
They also have a new octopus settling in. It was pretty well-hidden, but we did get to barely see it between and behind the rocks!
Horseshoe crabs and an actual crab.
It also occurred to me after we'd left last time that there was a whole damn room we hadn't gone into! It's partially a play area, and had been closed entirely for a couple years around Covid, and I just... forgot about it.
The room with displayed insects is devoted to different types of pollinators.
CAZADORES. (Tarantula hawk wasps. Allegedly the second-most painful sting of any wasp or ant. And the basis for one of the best enemy designs in Fallout: New Vegas, lol.)
Super bright metallic colors on this frog beetle!
My favorite butterfly this time! Not a kind I've seen here often. Unfortunately with a little wing damage, but such vibrant colors!
Zebra striped butterfly.
A very fresh and brightly colored swallowtail.
I love the zig-zag patterns on these guys' wings.
Feeding!
More feeding!
The morphos are so hard to catch with their wings open, lol.
The best picture (still blurry) of a morpho that I managed to get, ha. I took 26 pictures while it occasionally flicked its wings, and managed to get a grand total of 2 with wings open, lol.
It was a fun day! We had a good time, and saw some neat stuff. Our predicted severe weather (which caused us to choose the indoor option today, instead of tomorrow) didn't really materialize - we had early morning thunderstorms in the wee hours, and then some serious rain tonight. Hopefully tomorrow stays fairly clear.