a day at Callaway....

...donating my time. I had signed up to 'assist' (term very loosely applied, as there was actually nothing to do) with the workshop on Monarch butterflies. As it turned out, when I walked in the room where the workshop was to be held, the guy who was doing the program said:' You did this last year.' And I responded with: 'You did this last year too!' Michael is the director or manager or boss or whatever of the Day Butterfly Center on the Callaway property. A very smart, personable guy. He talked and shared information to about ten people who had signed up for the workshop - spent about a hour showing a power-point and video, plus providing much factual stuff about the insect world. Did you know Monarch butterflies migrate - flying from Canada to their overwintering location south of Mexico City - a greater distance than any other animal on the planet? Me neither!

We adjourned to go to the butterfly gardens outside the Day center, to attempt to net some of the traveling Monarchs, to tag and release. One of the younger members of our group actually caught two: a male and a female. They were tagged, with numbers being recorded and released. The wee small labels that are affixed to wings are about half the size of your pinky nail, with tiny numbers in sequence printed on each. Numbers are recorded, along with date, gender, location and whether they are wild caught or raised indoors and released.

Lots and lots of things blooming around the butterfly center, all designed, as you would expect to attract a variety of different insects and provide shelter, food in the form of nectar from flowers, or a place  for eggs. Some of the plants serve as 'host', meaning they are the particular plants certain ones will exclusively deposit their eggs on, for the caterpillar to eat, after it hatches out. For the monarch, nothing but milkweed will do and for the Gulf Fritillary, it is the passion vine. Both of which are planted in abundance in the beds around the glassed-in Day Center. Inside: only tropical butterflies. But out in the fresh air, sunshine, soft breezes of the gardens: glorious, beautifully colored butterflies and fat, humming bumblebees industriously doing what they were designed to do.