A rare little gift from Mother Nature

[Alliecat]

Growing up, I hatched many hundreds of Monarch butterflies, and participated for quite a few years in a tagging program for migration research. Unfortunately I now live in a place where there aren't many of them; the deer ate my milkweed patch a few years ago, and with their numbers dwindling due to habitat loss everywhere, I see fewer every year
I saw none this summer till my neighbour gave me her last chrysalis, ready to hatch. (With an electric fence and obsessive garden-tending, she has better luck attracting butterflies.)
Of course then I missed the hatching -- which is really quite magical -- but then had a brainstorm: DOLLS HOLDING BUTTERFLIES!!!
It was the middle of the night, and I had no "set" and crappy lighting. Shot a few pix anyway.


When they are just hatched, they're not ready to fly, so she was pretty easy to handle.



"Ooops!"

Saturday, I thought I might get one shot with one doll before she took off. But, it was so #$*^#%!!!* COLD... below about 13C they don't fly. So, I had two whole hours to take pictures, and she pretty much just sat there the whole time.





Trying to get warm in the sun.



I think she told the butterfly a secret here...?



Robyn, as a forest fairy, was going to be my "One Shot".



I went back in for more dolls! Here's Aislinn.



Of course Sunsette and Scarlett wanted to get in on the fun.



Looks like they made friends.



"Don't you want to go south now?"

The butterfly spent another night inside because it was so cold & windy. Today she's on her way. It's awfully late in the season so I don't know how far she'll get. Of all the hundreds, only one of my tagged butterflies ever showed up in Mexico. I'll have to do some more of these photos next year. The other girls want a chance too! Hopefully it'll be warmer!!!
Thanks for looking!

[GreysPrincess]

Whoa, that's really cool!

[DeadlyNova]

This is so amazing! It was a wonderful idea to take photos of the butterfly with your dolls. <3

[Pink Haired Freak]

This is so rad!! I love seeing this butterfly wit your girls!

[fishy]

Wonderful!! . THAT'S SO CUTE!! X3

[Marilyn]

How beautiful!

[Marsian]

So amazing and beautifull!!!

[dargosmydaddy]

Wow! What a great opportunity!

[Cornflower Blue]

Fascinating! I didn't see any Monarchs this summer until a few passed through on their fall migration a few weeks ago. I do see a few other kinds of butterflies in my yard. The Red Admirals love my Linden tree when it blossoms:

No chance for doll photos with them, as it was plenty warm and they were very active.

[Kyubi09]

Beautiful and unique photos. We get monarchs occasionally, but I see Red-Spotted Purples in late summer more often. (They really seem to like hanging out on our truck.)

Red-spotted Purple on our truck. by Kathryn Dodd, on Flickr

Red-spotted Purple underside. by Kathryn Dodd, on Flickr

[Alliecat]

Thank you everybody! I wish I had thought of this earlier in the summer.
Neat photos of the red admiral & red-spotted purple. We don't have the latter here. They must like the colour of your truck!

[Severity]

Those pictures are amazing!
The butterfly conservatory in a Niagara Falls is one of my favorite places; the time I went with fuchsia hair I made so many butterfly friends landing right on my head! They were probably thinking "what sort of flower is this and why can I not eat from it?" It was so very much fun. Gosh I need a passport.

[Brill]

Wow! Such cute pictures. I love the little butterflies.

[Cornflower Blue]

Those pictures are amazing!
The butterfly conservatory in a Niagara Falls is one of my favorite places; the time I went with fuchsia hair I made so many butterfly friends landing right on my head! They were probably thinking "what sort of flower is this and why can I not eat from it?" It was so very much fun. Gosh I need a passport.

Don't they have a lot of butterflies at the Cleveland Zoo? In a greenhouse or the rainforest? I haven't been in years, but I seem to recall them being there. It's a bit closer than Niagra Falls.

[Alliecat]

Those pictures are amazing!
The butterfly conservatory in a Niagara Falls is one of my favorite places; the time I went with fuchsia hair I made so many butterfly friends landing right on my head! They were probably thinking "what sort of flower is this and why can I not eat from it?"....

Haha That's a fun idea. I'd have to make do with a colourful hat. And I've been there! It was a long time ago; I think it might've been upgraded or something since then.

Wow! Such cute pictures. I love the little butterflies.

Thanks I guess I was lucky it was so cold; I've never had one stick around for so long after hatching; it was just too cold for her to fly, and at the end of the shoot, she dropped on the ground & wasn't even warm enough to flutter on the way down.
But, she was ok the next day & took off into a tree when I let her go.