Blue Morpho

Not the most photogenic background (i.e. the floor of the ENMAX Conservatory), but that's where this beautiful Blue Morpho butterfly was resting on 9 April 2013. There were very few butterflies in April, but over the following months till around September/October, numbers increased and the tropical plants grew much larger, and it once again became a hot, humid, tropical paradise : )

Most of these Blue Morphos at the Calgary Zoo are seen at rest, with wings tightly closed. No matter how many times I see one, I still find the gorgeous blue iridescence of the wings breathtaking.

"The Peleides Blue Morpho (Morpho peleides) is an iridescent tropical butterfly found in Mexico, Central America, northern South America,Paraguay and Trinidad.

The Blue Morpho Butterfly (Morpho peleides) drinks the juices from rotting fruits for food. Its favourites are mango, kiwi, and lychee. Blue Morpho butterflies live in the rainforests of South America, and can be found in Mexico and Central America.The wingspan of the Blue Morpho butterfly ranges from 7.5 cm to 20 cm.The entire Blue Morpho Butterfly lifecycle, from egg to adult is only 115 days. The larvae of Blue Morpho Butterflies are cannibals. The caterpillar Blue Morpho Butterfly is red-brown with patches of bright green. The brilliant blue color in the butterfly's wings is caused by the diffraction of the light from millions of tiny scales on its wings. It uses this to frighten away predators, by flashing its wings rapidly. The Blue Morpho Butterflies stick together in groups to deter their predators, a form of Mobbing behavior."

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morpho

Yesterday, the Search function on Flickr was not working properly and this image did not come up when I searched. Hope they fix it very soon, if not fixed by now! As a result, I just discovered after I had uploaded my three photos this morning, that I had already posted this photo ages ago! I think I've only ever accidentally repeated an image once or maybe twice out of all 9, 845 photos, which isn't bad : )