This Friday Flowers post has blooms in a supporting role with the stars of the show being the beautiful butterflies of Mexico. One of the favourite games on our original Macintosh Performa (circa 1995) was Amazon Trail. (The graphics were great at the time) In the journey through the rainforest, colourful butterflies and birds crossed the screen. Each day at about 10AM, butterflies began flying around the flowering trees and vines on the property in Tepic, Mexico. They reminded me of the old computer game and I tried to "collect" all of them with my lens.
There were several enormous butterflies which eluded me for days. They looked like giant pieces of lace fluttering through the air. I had given up trying to find one at rest when my brother called me over to his house in the afternoon just before I left. This tattered but beautiful butterfly was feeding on an over ripe banana.
This moth was on the bathroom mirror one morning. I carefully let it out the window and its wings were even prettier in flight.
The hummingbirds were about the size of the butterflies and they reigned over the flowers and feeder. The Violet-crowned Hummingbird on the left was very territorial and aggressive and attacked any other bird which approached its perch. We would watch three of four of them chase each other at great speeds around the property. They commandeered two feeders on opposite sides of the house. The Berylline (or Buff-bellied) Hummingbird on the right had to sneak over to the feeder for a sip or two at a time.Some time I hope to see the overwintering Monarchs in the neighbouring state of Michoacán but this collection of butterflies will do for now. Maybe I will even get around to identifying them some day.
0 comments:
Post a Comment