Butterfly House after Rain

One of my shifts at the Roston Native Butterfly House occurred after it rained most of the night and the hours before my shift. I was pleasantly surprised that it didn’t rain for a bit over 2 hours that fit nicely with my scheduled time…only starting again just as the next shift arrived! Not many people ventured out to the Springfield Botanical Gardens during that time and there were only 14 visitors to the butterfly house…so I had plenty of time to sweep the floor and stand up the chairs! There was a cecropia moth on the floor that I moved to a flower bed so it would not get stepped on; it moved a bit when I picked it up.

The high point of the visitors were grandparents their two young granddaughters; they were having a ‘butterfly day camp week’ and the house was on their activity list! They were thrilled that the rain had stopped long enough for them to visit.

The butterflies that were not roosting were feeding on zinnias and musk thistle – probably hungry because they tend to roost when it is raining or dark (and it was cool as well). The oranges that are usually popular were probably waterlogged from all the rain; I didn’t see any butterflies on them. Two pipevine swallowtail caterpillars were actively feeding but most of the others were not very active. I had plenty of time to take pictures of butterflies, caterpillars, and plants.

There were at least 4 cecropia moths (other than the one I moved off the floor) that were in house…a little challenging to see in the foliage. Two butterflies emerged from their chrysalis but neither one dried off enough to fly away from the chrysalis house; the humidity was very high which probably prolonged the process. Some butterflies were on the low brick walls and floor; they might have been puddling although it appears they were on relatively dry places.