Thursday, March 31, 2016

A Visit to Butterflies in Bloom 2016

Yesterday (30 March) we went to the 2016 Butterflies in Bloom exhibit in Midland.  This exhibit is held in the conservatory at Dow Gardens and runs until April 17th.  The exhibit features hundreds of butterflies and moths.  Visitors are encouraged to interact with the butterflies - meaning it is okay to touch them.  This means that many of the butterflies look a little ragged because they have been handled by so many people.  They are also very skittish.  If they land within reach of a person (adult or child) they are often immediately harassed until they take flight again.  I understand the reasons behind allowing people to touch the butterflies, but I prefer facilities that have a hands-off approach because I think the butterflies act more naturally and probably live longer.

When we visited the exhibit, it was very busy.  This week is spring break for most local schools and I think there were well over 100 people crowded into the conservatory.  The number of people and the skittish behavior of the butterflies made it difficult to get good quality photographs.  I spent most of my time looking for butterflies that were out of reach of people and photographed them at a longer distance.

Here are just a few photographs from the exhibit.








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