Category: Butterflies

Are you tired of winter? Do you dream of warmer days and butterflies? There are places where you can see butterflies this winter without traveling south of the border.

Tropical butterfly exhibits are great places to see many different species of butterflies up close. Take a camera and you are bound to get some great photos.

Here are butterfly exhibits that open year-round in the United States and Canada. So get rid of those winter blues and go find some butterflies!

ARIZONA
Butterfly Wonderland
9500 E. Via de Ventura
Scottsdale, Arizona 85256
Phone: (480) 800-3000

CALIFORNIA
Six Flags Discovery Kingdom
1001 Fairgrounds Dr.
Vallejo, CA 94589
Phone: (707) 643-6722

California Academy of Sciences
Osher Rainforest
Golden Gate Park
55 Music Concourse Drive
San Francisco, CA 94118
(415) 379-8000

COLORADO
Butterfly Pavilion
6252 West 104th Ave.
Westminster, CO 80020
Phone: (303) 469-5441

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Butterfly Pavilion
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
10th Street and Constitution Ave., NW
Washington, D.C. 20560
Phone: (202) 633-1000

FLORIDA
Butterfly World
3600 W. Sample Road
Coconut Creek, Florida 33073
Phone: (954) 977-4400

Butterfly Rainforest
Florida Museum of Natural History
University of Florida
SW 34th Street and Hull Road
Gainesville, FL 32611
Phone: (352) 846-2000

Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory
1316 Duval Street
Key West, FL 33040
Phone: (800) 839-4647

GEORGIA
Cecil B. Day Butterfly Center
Callaway Gardens
5887 Georgia Highway 354
Pine Mountain, GA 31822
Phone: (800) CALLAWAY

ILLINOIS
Judy Istock Butterfly Haven
The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum
2430 N. Cannon Drive
Chicago, IL 60614
Phone: (773) 755-5100

IOWA
Reiman Gardens
Iowa State University
1407 University Blvd.
Ames, Iowa 50011
Phone: (515) 294-2710

LOUISIANA
Butterflies in Flight
Audubon Insectarium
6500 Magazine St.
New Orleans, LA 70118
Phone: (800) 774-7394

MAINE
The Butterfly Kingdom
York’s Wild Kingdom
1 Animal Park Road, York, ME 03901
Phone: (207) 363-4911

MASSACHUSSETTS
The Butterfly Place
120 Tyngsboro Road
Westford, MA 01886
Phone: (978) 392-0955
Opens February 14

Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory & Gardens
281 Greenfield Road (Routes 5 & 10)
South Deerfield, MA   01373
Phone: (413) 665-2805

MICHIGAN
Detroit Zoo
Woodward Avenue and 10 Mile Road (I-696)
Royal Oak, MI 48067
Phone: (248) 541-5717

MISSOURI
Sophie B. Sachs Butterfly House
Missouri Botanical Garden
Faust Park
15193 Olive Blvd.
Chesterfield, MO 63017
Phone: (636) 530-0076

Saint Louis Zoo Insectarium
One Government Drive
St. Louis, MO
Phone: (314) 781-0900
Admission to Insectarium is free all day, every day.

The Butterfly Palace
4106 W 76 Country Blvd
Branson, MO
Phone: (417) 332-2231

MONTANA
Missoula Butterfly House and Insectarium
1075 South Ave W #2, Missoula, MT 59801
Phone: (406) 317-1211

NEBRASKA
Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium
3701 S. 10th Street, Omaha, NE 68107
Phone: (402) 733-8400

NEW YORK
Dancing Wings Butterfly Garden
National Museum of Play
One Manhattan Square
Rochester, NY 14607
Phone: (585) 263-2700

NORTH CAROLINA
Magic Wings Butterfly House
North Carolina Museum of Life & Science
433 Murray Avenue
Durham, NC 27704
Phone: (919) 220-5429

North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences
Living Conservatory 11 West Jones St.
Raleigh, NC 27601
Phone: (919) 733-7450

PENNSYLVANIA
Hershey Gardens
170 Hotel Road
Hershey, PA 17033
Phone: (717) 534-3492

SOUTH DAKOTA
Sertoma Butterfly House
4320 Oxbow Avenue
Sioux Falls, SD 57106
Phone: (605) 334-9466

TENNESSEE
Tennessee Aquarium
One Broad Street
Chattanooga, TN 37402
Phone: (800) 262-0695

TEXAS
Cockrell Butterfly Center
The Houston Museum of Natural Science
5555 Hermann Park Dr.
Houston, Texas 77030
Phone: (713) 639-4629

Rosine Smith Sammons Butterfly House & Insectarium
Texas Discovery Gardens
3601 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Gate 6 at Fair Park
Dallas, Texas 75210
Phone: (214) 428-7476

UTAH
Butterfly Biosphere
3003 N Thanksgiving Way
Lehi, UT 84043
Phone: (801) 768-2300

WASHINGTON
Pacific Science Center Tropical Butterfly House
200 2nd Ave N
Seattle, Washington
Phone: (206) 443-2001

WISCONSON
Puelicher Butterfly Wing
Milwaukee Public Museum
800 West Wells Street, Milwaukee, WI, USA
Phone: (414) 278-2728

BRITISH COLOMBIA
Victoria Butterfly Gardens
1461 Benvenuto Avenue
Brentwood Bay, British Columbia
Phone: (877) 722-0272

ONTARIO
Canadian Museum of Nature – Musée canadien de la nature
240 McLeod Street
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Phone: (800)263-4433

F. Jean MacLeod Butterfly Gallery
Science North
100 Ramsey Lake Road
Sudbury, ON P3E 5S9 Canada
Phone: (705) 522-3701

Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory
2500 Kossuth Rd
Cambridge, ON N3H 4R7
Phone: (519) 653-1234

Niagara Falls Butterfly Conservatory
2565 Niagara Parkway, Niagara Falls
+1 (877) 642-7275

Monarchs (Danaus plexippus) are best known for their annual migration in North America. But many people do not realize that Monarch butterflies are not just found in North America. These iconic butterflies can be seen around the world and form populations that do not migrate or that only migrate short distances.

Monarchs thrive throughout Central and South America. They are residents in the islands of the Caribbean, including Puerto Rico and Cuba. Monarchs live in North Africa and migrate to the Canary Islands, the Azores, Madeira, Portugal, and Spain. Even on occasion a rare migrant can be found in the United Kingdom. They have also been seen in Bermuda, the Cook Islands, the Solomon Islands, New Guinea, Ceylon, India and Nepal. Monarchs live year-round on the Hawai‘ian Islands as well as on other Pacific Islands. They are abound in New Zealand and Australia.

Scientists believe that the Monarch butterfly is originally from North America, but over the years they have made their way throughout the world colonizing new locations where they could find various species of Milkweeds for their host plants. For example, Gomphocarpus physocarpus, commonly known as Swan Plant, is a species of Milkweed native to southeast Africa, but it has been naturalized in New Zealand, most likely before the Monarchs arrived. Monarchs were probably knowingly or unknowingly transported on ships and then were able to find their host plants to survive.

It’s possible that extreme weather events helped to relocate Monarchs. It is believed by some that Monarchs were carried to Australia from New Caledonia on cyclones. Once they arrived, they found Milkweed, Gomphocarpus physocarpus, originally from South Africa, and the Asclepias Curassavica  from Central America that had become naturalized and the butterflies successfully established a breeding population.

Monarchs spread throughout much of the world in the 1800s. They were first seen in Hawai‘i in the 1840s, and spread throughout the South Pacific in the 1850s-60s. In the early 1870s, the first Monarchs were reported in Australia and New Zealand.

Monarch butterflies are adaptable and can thrive in various environments as long as there is a sufficient supply of milkweed for their larvae and nectar sources for the adults. Their remarkable migration and wide distribution make them a truly fascinating species.

Wherever they are found, Monarchs have become one of the best-known and favorite butterflies throughout the world.

I’ve given many presentations about butterflies to both children and adults, always allowing time in the end for questions. Once, a young girl surprised me by asking, “How do butterflies get pregnant?”

It’s complicated.

When female butterflies first emerge, they already have about 400-700 eggs inside their abdomen. Most butterflies have a very short adult lifespan of three to four weeks. Females must quickly find a mate to have enough time to lay all their eggs.

Depending on the species, but usually, within three or four days, the female will be ready for romance. But the female butterfly is picky. She wants just the right male who will provide just the right quality offspring.

The male, in order to entice the female butterfly, will perform a courtship dance. These “dances” consist of flight patterns that are peculiar to that species of butterfly. If the female is interested she may join the male’s dance. The two flutter and twirl through the air together. The male releases pheromones, a natural cologne, from scent glands in an effort to entice the female to mate.

Once the female is satisfied with her suitor, she allows him to attach himself by extending and offering her abdomen towards the male for coupling. The male butterfly has a pair of claspers at the end of his abdomen used to hold onto the female during the mating process. Males and females lock together at the ends of the abdomens and may stay attached for anywhere from an hour to up to twelve hours or more. In this way, males ensure that they are the only ones who fertilize the female’s’ eggs. During mating, males provide a spermatophore, a sort of “package” of sperm and nutrients the female needs to produce and lay eggs.

There are some species, such as the topical Heliconius butterflies, where the mating ritual is not so romantic. As a female Tiger Longwing (Heliconius hecale) gets ready to emerge from her chrysalis, several males maneuver around her, each one trying to get an advantage over the others by pushing each other aside. Whoever wins this contest mates with the female. But because the male is so anxious to copulate he will not wait until the female emerges from the chrysalis. This behavior is sometimes called “pupal rape” since the female is still inside the chrysalis and unable to escape. A rather more politically correct description would be “forced copulation” or simply “pupal mating.”

Just as with humans, the mating rituals of butterflies can be perplexing. I have seen some unusual behavior among butterflies inside butterfly exhibits. One day I walked inside the butterfly house to find several male Zebra Longwing butterflies flying wildly around a newly emerged female Black Swallowtail. I suppose the males were confused and misread the olfactory clues that they use to find females.

The next time you see a butterfly you will know that “love is in the air,” quite literally!

 

North American Monarch butterflies do not like cold weather, so every fall they head south for the winter. According to Monarch Watch, the Monarch’s migration is driven by seasonal changes. Shorter days and lower temperatures influence the movement of the Monarch.

The butterflies fly at speeds ranging between 12 to 25 miles an hour using updrafts of warm air, called “thermals,” to glide as they migrate on the 2500-3000 mile voyage from the Great Lakes in Canada to the warm Central Mexican oyamel fir forests in the mountains of Michoacán and the State of Mexico.

All along their migratory route, they will join together at night in clusters called roosts to rest. Sometimes they roost overnight, and other times they will roost in the same place for several days, waiting for optimal weather to head back on their southern journey. Scientists believe this roosting behavior provides safety from predators. (Click here to read more about roosting behavior.)

A monarch butterfly weighs less than 1 gram, about what a paper clip weighs, yet they are able to travel 1500-3000 miles to their overwintering grounds. And according to Journey North, they have been known to fly as high as 11,000 feet. Most migrating songbird migrations occur in a range of 2000-4000 feet high.

Not all Monarchs migrate to Mexico. Monarch butterflies that live on the west side of the Rocky Mountains overwinter in eucalyptus and pine trees in various places along the California coast between Sonoma County and San Diego.

Monarchs begin to arrive in their overwintering sites in Mexico during the last week of October and the first week in November. In fact, many of the people in that area believe the butterflies are the souls of their dead ancestors coming to visit. Altars of food and flowers are constructed to celebrate their arrival. (Click here to read more about Day of the Dead.)

Millions of butterflies will stay for the winter months high up in the trees, protected from the cold weather. Tens of thousands of Monarchs can cluster together on one oyamel tree in order to keep warm.

In late February these Monarchs will begin their northern travels back to the United States and Canada. They will mate and lay eggs along the way where they find flowers to nectar on and milkweed for their young. This generation will not make the trip back from their starting point. They leave that journey for their children and grandchildren.

I love fall! Butterflies are abundant this time of year. Monarchs are migrating south. Autumn leaves are starting to show their crimson, orange and golden colors. And, then there are pumpkins!

Here are a few ideas on how you can celebrate this wonderful time of year with butterflies and pumpkins.

Monika Moore, the California Butterfly Lady, always creates fun fall butterfly displays using Monarchs she’s raised.

Heather Ward of Heather Ward Wildlife Art carved this Monarch butterfly. She explained, “When carving a pumpkin, it is important to cut out pieces in the right order. Start with the smallest first. In this case, I had a ton of tiny dots. Those were actually the easiest to put in – I just used a drill bit to poke holes in. Then I worked on the smaller patches on the wings, then the larger ones. I still broke a few lines, but it held together. Last, I carved the antennae and upper part of the background circle, then the lower part of the circle.”

This adorable little girl and her butterfly won the 2014 This Old House Pumpkin Carving Contest.

Need some help carving a butterfly? Download this free stencil with instructions from Better Homes and Gardens.

Don’t like scooping out the pumpkin seeds and getting your hands all mushy? Here’s one more project idea that involves absolutely no “pumpkin guts”. These three butterfly-themed pumpkins were carved using surface carving, a design is created by scraping away the tough outer pumpkin rind and creating texture in the softer flesh beneath.

Don’t feel like you are creative? You can carve a pumpkin using butterfly-shaped cookie cutters and a rubber mallet to make these butterfly designs.

Hollow out each pumpkin as you would for traditional carving. Then, center a cookie cutter on one side and gently tap with the rubber mallet until the cookie cutter goes all the way through the flesh. Start in the center and work side-to-side to avoid bending the metal. Remove the cut pumpkin along with the cutter, and clean up the edges with a sharp paring knife.

You might want to consider purchasing a Professional Pumpkin Carving Tool Kit to help you carve your pumpkins.

Happy Butterfly Halloween!