Meeting the Butterflies

Papilio memnon, the Greater Mormon, photograph © the author

We enter the butterfly enclosure through a curtain of large, light chains painted white. There are doors behind and before.

And perhaps this unusual start, setting the stage for visiting such unusual creatures, is somehow an appropriate entrance for a display of tropical butterflies. Certainly it is so from a practical perspective, as its purpose is to protect the butterflies from escaping into a more extreme climate than the conservatory in which they were raised. So we step in under and through the chains, through the inner door, and into the room with them.

The first thing I notice is that there are not a great many butterflies immediately visible. A fair number of humans — one couldn’t miss the humans — but not butterflies. As I begin to step around the space the latter appear slowly, becoming visible as one’s eyes become more quiet. There they are, clinging upside down to tree branches, perched on various food sources carefully laid out for them, and occasionally winging their way across the spaces between.

I try to slow down among the mill of people, quietly watch, catch the pace of these creatures, so much larger than any I have seen in my garden. The crowd is not fast; it is gentle among the butterflies, fascinated. There are many photographers, some with little smartphone cameras, some with professional gear. They are quiet, but it is a room…