More Butterflies!

Not that I want to bore you with more, but this is a mostly timely post! It was just last weekend that I went to the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum and my favorite part, the Judy Istock Butterfly Haven. Nearly 3,000 square feet of over 40 butterfly species. Of course, I enjoy them as macro photo subjects, since they are normally feeding and distracted enough to get close! The museum was quite nice, with "live" displays from the Chicago Herpetological Society with several species of snakes and lizards, and some other displays from work being done behind the scenes of the museum.

But as for butterflies, I used my Canon 6D with the 100mm macro, ring flash in front and an additional 3cm of extension tubes to extend the close focus range of the macro. It was great to just have to worry to get close to focus as the flash meters itself off the camera detector, so a near-perfect exposure every time! Unfortunately, the guides to the Haven's inhabitants do not list all species carried, so I made a guess here and there, and some others were not identified. Also, these are the exotic species from around the world brought in for their colors, so not many locals you would see outside the walls...


Just inside the door they've set up a buffet table for the butterflies, consisting of rotting fruit, that always had several species enjoying. Click the exposure at left and you can see all their proboscises deep inside the soft fruit feeding... At left is a blue morpho, whose iridescent blue color on their inner wing is seen past the partial near wing. At center is I believe a juniper hairstreak. The rightmost remains unnamed...

A few steps further and there were a striking pair of mating butterflies. Unfortunately not identified in the guide, and they stayed connected for the whole hour I was there! Note the subtle coloration difference, and also how the upper butterfly has one purple wing and one blue!


Shooting most of them was easy if they were distracted by feeding or otherwise resting. There was this huge butterfly called a Caligo Memnon or a Pale Owl butterfly. It was resting on a tree trunk and had to be over 15cm (6") wingspan. Supposedly the eye spots are supposed to scare away predators, since they rest a lot being as huge as they are... Also shown at right is a close-up of the head and abdomen showing the subtle color variation in its hairs...



One of my first "captures" was the scarlet Mormon. Evidently it has some red on its hidden lower wing or along its abdomen, neither of which are seen here. What is interesting is that in the close-up at right, what looked like grey in its wing is actually a combination of black and white pigmented scales in its wings, here at least partially resolved...



Surely one of the most colorful butterflies in the enclosure, other than the iridescent blue morpho that never seemed to rest, was the red lacewing. Shown at left, it has an amazingly complex coloration on their wings and hail from southeast Asia.




Another striking color combination was the pale green and tan of what I THINK was a juniper hairstreak. I love the appearance of their eyes - some differences in appearance from species to species. I wish I knew more about it and also wonder how we look to them!




Finally another brightly colored butterfly is the tiger longwing, native from Mexico to Peru. Mostly I include it here as I love the close-up of its head showing the curled-up proboscis - way cool!



Well there you have it. I have more, of course, but these are my favorites. The best thing is that the Haven is open all winter long, so if I get tired of the snow and cold this coming season, I know where to go where it is warm and humid and these guys will be there to greet me!