Tag Archives: butterflies

50 Shades Of Green

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We have been getting lots of requests for the color green lately. Post cards, letters, notes tied to rocks and flung over our fence, so I just want you to know that OK already, we got the message.

I don’t know if it’s because summers over and people just weren’t ready for it or what, but if you want green we’ll give you green. A lot of people earlier in the year wanted grey. 50 shades of it. I don’t know why. Grey is like the second most boring color there is but they were clamoring for it. So they got grey.

We’re here to please after all and so here you go. Our color checkers have gone over this image with a fine tooth comb and have located at least 50 shades of green for you. I don’t know the significance of the number 50 but as ‘The Shadow’ used to say “Who knows the weirdness that lies in the hearts and minds of men..” and I presume women as well.

Enjoy, and remember, Keep those cards and letters coming in, we’ll do our best to satisfy any of your bizarro cravings. But lay off the rocks, you’re going to put somebodies’ eye out.

Captive Beauty: Blue Morpho

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When we think of captive animals it ‘s generally in regard to the large mammals that we see in zoos or refuges. But that isn’t always the case. Insects such as this Common Morpho, or gorgeous blue butterfly as most of us know it, are found in Butterfly pavilions all over the world. They are raised there for several purposes, one of which is to display them to the public so all can see and appreciate their beauty.

Their main characteristics are their obvious electric blue coloring that fades into an indigo blue then nearly black at the edge of its wings. Little white dots in the blackest part of their wings gives contrast making them even more striking. Plus their size. They’re a fairly large butterfly which makes watching them fly in their swooping, darting fashion a special joy to watch, especially if the sun glints off the blue making it blaze like the rarest of sapphires.

They have another feature that most of us aren’t aware of. When their wings are closed they are camouflaged and appear drab, uninteresting and difficult to see against their environment. But when it is their time to shine they spread their wings displaying their fantastic inner and outer beauty for all to see. I know people like that.

If you love beauty take some time and visit a Butterfly pavilion. It’s like going to an art gallery only the art is alive. If, as they say, Flowers are Mother nature’s laughter and birds are her jewels then butterflies must be her happiest thoughts. I think this Blue Morpho must be one of her happiest.

Butterfliticus Blackii

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Those of you who are long time readers of our blog know by now that we here at IRK are interested in documenting, cataloging and identifying every form of wildlife we come across. This includes but is not limited to, butterflies. Butterflies are a type of insect, which is a part of a higher order of things such as elephants, emus, cantaloupes, and fish which is also known as the Animal Kingdom, so it falls under our auspices as allowable research. We don’t care if some know-it-all has already identified it and put their smarty-pants opinion out there as if he and/or she knows all about it and feels qualified to do so. We have even heard that there is a complete field of knowledge already in existence about butterflies. We don’t care. It has always been our creed to live and let live unless of course, they take an exception to what we know is absolutely the truth. Or perhaps more clearly what we think is the truth. Or even what we’ll accept as the truth whether we have any idea if it is or not. We’re flexible here. We have deadlines. Sometimes it’s just easier to go with it.

This butterfly, and I use the term with full confidence, was photographed in the Institutes wildlife garden which is part of our wildlife park, a gorgeous 8000 acre pristine wilderness unsullied by any kind of modern improvements, and conveniently located right outside our door. What luck, you may say, but no, we planned it. What the luck was, was that we were able to locate the Institute’s camera and get it turned on and ready to shoot before the miserable little creature decided to fly off. They do that. They take off just when you ready to shoot them and you’re left standing there holding the camera and looking like a dummy. That’s why we occasionally put super glue on some of the nicer looking flowers as it aids in keeping the insect there long enough so we can complete the photographic process. That’s just a little photographers trick to get pictures that look like something instead of a bunch of empty stems.

Due to the incredible amount of information that flows into our data banks on a daily basis we have developed a state of the art filing system. We have an entire library/pantry/paint storage room that is filled to bursting with things we know about. We’re talking lots of stuff. Our head information retrievel-ist, Edna, who is now in her 90’s but still feeble, is in charge of the whole thing. Unfortunately several months before this article went to press, Edna, bless her soul, left a window open during one of our frequent tornadoes and now we have 3×5 cards and post its scattered all over hell and back and it is a dog’s breakfast in there. It is a Chinese fire drill. You couldn’t find your butt with both hands behind you. Edna is at a loss as to how to deal with it as she spends most of her time napping now, at least we hope she’s napping. Note to self: Check Edna for vital signs.

One of our strong suits here at IRK is we’re nothing if not adaptable. Fortunately we have an intern/researcher/indentured servant who has stepped up and started to bring some kind of order to this problem. As she is one of our more trusted employees and has a background in reading, we know because her living unit is chock full of reading stuff, with People magazine and graphic novels and other techy kind of stuff all over the place, so we felt fully confident in giving her free rein. Unbeknownst to us, but luckily, she had purchased a book of Latin phrases with which she can puzzle out enough Latin kind of stuff to help us rename some of our creatures whose post it or 3×5 card was lost or maybe fell behind the compressor, we don’t know. Renaming this butterfly in time for the publishing deadline put a lot of pressure on Tonisha but she came through. This is one of her better efforts we believe, and we’re quite proud of our Latin-ist now and are considering her as a possible replacement for Edna should she be lacking in vital signs.

Butterfliticus Blackii has now been permanently added to our data base as we have since added a huge whiteboard and a lifetime supply of erasable pens so that nothing can happen to our priceless data or information as we call it here, in the future. Everyone on staff feels much better about the improvements. We have had to caution Tonisha about wearing those big hairy sweaters and rubbing up against the whiteboard. We don’t understand at this point why she needs to rub up against everything but I’m sure it will work out in the future. Butterfliticus Blackii, write it down, you’ll be hearing it again. Oh, and as near as we can figure out it means black butterfly with yellow stuff on its wings, Cool huh?