Doing back-to-back natural history events is not easy. Having just returned at 1:30 AM this morning from the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival in Harlingen, Texas where I exhibited the Wingscapes BirdCam, I am immediately setting up the Wingscapes display once again later this morning at the National Association for Interpretation’s annual national workshop in Portland, Oregon. However the up-side, as they say in the marketing biz, is that I get the opportunity to tell thousands of nature enthusiasts all about a great tool they can use to observe and from that better understand the natural world – so while it’s a lot of work it’s also a lot of fun.
Of course, as I captured some, if I may say so myself, superb nature photos while in the South Rio Grande Valley area, I couldn’t wait to share them with the Born Again Bird Watcher readers. So before I hit the sack for the night and get a little sleep, I wanted to post two of the images of which I am most proud, and which, as a pair, best remind me of the truth to be found in the natural world.
The first is a Malachite butterfly, Siproeta stelenes, recorded at the NABA International Butterfly Park in Mission, Texas. One of the few vividly green butterflies, the Malachite is a favorite of many Lepidopterists, both amateur and professional. Of all the butterflies I have seen in my life, few compare to the Malachite’s ability to convey the sublime beauty to be found in nature.
The second is an as-of-yet unidentified dragonfly devouring a freshly captured Tawny Emperor butterfly, Asterocampa clyton, at Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge. While the jade green of the dragonfly’s face is hypnotically beautiful in its own right, the scene itself conveys the truth behind much of the beauty of nature – the eternal cycle of life and death.
Peace and good bird watching.
