Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Butterflies in Bloom



Here are a few more pictures from our trip to the Desert Botantical Gardens.

The butterfly on the left is a Painted Lady. At first I thought it was a Buckeye since the coloring is very similar and the identification card showed that Buckeyes might be in the exhibit.
I wanted it to be a Buckeye since Buckeye is the Ohio state tree. It seemed fitting for 3 Ohioans (well 1 and 2 former) to viewing it. But I looked at my original photo again, magnified this time, and saw that it was a Painted Lady. Buckeyes have some circular designs on their wings. I looked at all of my photos, but I could not find one. Maybe they emerge at a different time. I´m not sure.
The butterfly on the right is a Julia.


This butterfly is a Malachite.



This sculpture is by Alan Houser, who was an Apache artist. The photo doesn´t show the detail and beauty of his work, but I had to include it. The DBG featured a number of his pieces, but this was my favorite of the ones on display.


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Sunday, March 28, 2010

Spring in the Desert

One of my favorite things to do in Phoenix is to visit the Desert Botanical Gardens, especially when they have their annual Butterfly House open. My friend Lynda visited us from Ohio a few weeks ago, and we went to see the Butterflies.
The one above is a Pipevine Swallowtail.
Here are Zebras and a Painted Lady.

More Zebras, a Julia, and another Painted Lady in the top left.

A white Sulfur possibly? The Identification Guide that I picked up didn´t show one that looked quite like this. So if there are any butterfly experts out there, please feel free to correct the ID.
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