Because of a little business trip detour, I ended up in North Carolina a bit unexpectedly last month. To my delight, that meant my hubby and I got to explore the Biltmore Estate and its gardens. I am so glad I brought my camera along because the butterflies were very cooperative!
I had never seen a pipevine swallowtail before; it was lovely!
This eastern tiger swallowtail looks similar to ones I’ve seen in my backyard at home, but I’ve never been able to capture one with my camera.
And who doesn’t adore the monarch?
“O LORD, how manifold are Your works! In wisdom have You made them all; the earth is full of Your creatures.” -Psalm 104:24 ESV
As part of our Kindergarten unit on butterflies, our family received five caterpillars in the mail one day, in a little cup with food on the bottom and a lid on top.
One caterpillar was notably smaller than the rest. We watched them all eat, eat, eat. We watched them all grow, grow, grow. And then we watched as four of them miraculously hung upside down and dried to form their chrysalises.
The fifth caterpillar was stubborn, sluggish. Linnea encouraged it emphatically, “You can’t be a caterpillar all your life!” Finally, she joined the others hanging upside down.
We carefully moved the chrysalises to a mesh butterfly habitat and then we watched, watched, watched for several days as nothing happened. One afternoon while we were away, not watching, our first Painted Lady butterfly was born! The next morning two more butterflies fluttered around in the habitat, and another one wiggled around still in the chrysalis. We watched so closely as that one miraculously broke free and made its way out to dry its wings. How amazing!
We kept and fed the butterflies for a few days, but since we were leaving town for the Memorial Day weekend, we needed to release them. The last stubborn chrysalis remained, shaking sometimes. We entrusted it to our next door neighbors so they could share in the experience.
The morning we let the four butterflies go was a little breezy and overcast. The girls knew they wanted to release them at “Butterfly Meadow,” a grassy meadow in a park very close to us. Linnea aptly named it because we had seen many butterflies fluttering through it one day on a little hike.
I’ll let the pictures tell the next part of the story.
the path to Butterfly Meadow
Linnea unzips the habitat; butterflies hesitate.
Butterfly poses for the camera before sailing up into the air.
Linnea follows butterfly into the meadow.
“My favorite part of the school year,” Linnea says, “was the butterflies. I got to let them go, and they were beautiful. I got to open the lid to let the pretty Painted Lady butterflies fly away. I found one after it flew away, and I gave it leaves and flowers.”
Laurel tries to lure butterflies out using a dandelion.
Another butterfly poses before departure.
The last butterfly lingers on a wilted flower petal, then flies away.
Before this day, I had envisioned the butterflies rushing out of the habitat quickly. One swift mass exodus. I never expected we’d have to coax them to fly away. They were a bit uncertain.
What’s more, saying farewell to these beautiful creatures we had studied so closely felt surprisingly bittersweet. We felt sorrowful, but at the same time, we knew their potenital. Although they had hesitated to fly away at first, those butterflies never looked back or longed to return to the confining habitat in which we had kept them. No, instead of looking back, some soared up past the trees, up to the sky, rising up until they were completely out of sight. Free. The others fluttered far into the meadow and disappeared. Free.
The sheer joy of setting these creatures free to fly as high or as far as they wished — it overcame me. How exhilarating! Flying high and flying far was exactly what God created them to do! Their time on earth is brief; they usually only live a few weeks. They need to fly!
While my children are still small and at home with me, I study them closely. These early years are caterpillar years. They eat, eat, eat, and they grow, grow, grow. Someday they’ll probably be more like those chrysalises, and I won’t so clearly see what’s going on inside them. They’ll feel awkward as they change.
And then, someday, they’ll unveil. They’ll be beautiful butterflies.
I will let them fly as high and as far as God created them to fly. They, too, are on earth for just a brief time. They need to fly!
Starlight Writer 