Butterflies

Butterflies give rise to joy. As evidence I would present laughs and wide eyed stares, winsome smiles and plenty of uuuuuus and ahhhhhhhs.  My five and seven year old simply light up when they see a butterfly flutter about and I must admit that I catch a glow from their light.

Finding critters to study and learn about can be difficult but it seems that there are always butterflies about throughout the spring and summer in Virginia.  Spend sometime in a flower garden and your encounters with these winged insects goes way up.  My family and I took our yearly trip to River Farm on the banks of the Potomac River a couple of weeks ago and walked around what I would consider a butterfly hot spot. With so many flowers in a concentrated setting it is no wonder I saw so many butterflies and so many different species.

The farm was, at one time, property of our first president and is now home to the American Horticultural Society.  I suppose this farm which is about 25 acres of greenery would be a mecca, of sorts, for butterflies.  My kids were thrilled at the sight of so many butterflies in one place and I was excited too.  We were able to get up close and personal with the butterflies as they as they hopped from flower to flower in search of nectar. Using their over sized proboscis they sipped nectar then clumsily took off only to repeat the process again and again, in other words, they did what butterflies do.  I started asking myself why these insects were such a draw with my kids.  What was it about butterflies that seemed so special to them? Butterflies are insects, after all.

For one thing butterflies are relatively slow moving even when in the air so even my five year old is able to get a good look at them and notice the sometimes subtle differences between species.  Butterflies are fairly predictable in that you know what they want so you can position yourself around flowers and just wait patiently for them to return.  When they land to drink nectar butterflies are, at times, seemingly unaware of anything else around them, which makes it easy to get a really good look at them.  Last, but not least, the many colors of butterflies make them especially appealing to young eyes. My girls, in particular, will call out the colors of the butterflies as they flit about in the air. Maybe my middle-aged self is more enthusiastic about the joy brought on by these insects than the insects themselves.