More beauty

Before we left for home the day after our splendiferous visit to WEBS, Elvis and I made a slight detour to the Magic Wings butterfly conservatory.



Wow.



Magic Wings is a large greenhouse full of tropical plants (and feeders, like the one below that looks like a strawberry daiquiri).


Butterflies have the run of the place.



They dive-bomb you, they sometimes perch on your clothes, they flit and flutter everywhere around you.



And they come in every color and size.



Do not be fooled by this guy (below); this is not a photo of a leaf, but rather the butterfly's protective coloring on the underside of its wings so that when it perches, it will be unnoticed by predators.



If I hadn't seen the butterfly land, it certainly would have fooled me. Here's another butterfly's camouflage, including "eyespots" which are supposed to fool predators into thinking that the butterfly is an animal with multiple scary eyes. (This guy was bright blue inside but he didn't settle down long enough for us to photograph his colorful side.)


We were entranced by the place and would have stayed much longer if we didn't have a long drive ahead of us.


I had never seen butterflies with translucent wings like some of them had -- and I never imagined being able to take such close-up shots of these unusual creatures. If you are in the South Deerfield, MA area, it's definitely worth a stop.

Oh yes, we met Akbar the tropical bird, too, as well as a turtle, quail chicks and some skinks. You'll be pleased to know, however, that there were no skanks.


Present company excepted, of course.