18 Aug 2023
Today, Matt started his trip back home, but my flight out wasn’t until the evening, so I opted to head back to Canada and check out the Butterfly Conservatory. Matt wasn’t as interested in visiting the butterflies, plus, it’s located several kilometers north of the Falls, necessitating a bus ride, so we decided not to do it during our visit yesterday.
The morning sun hits the spray from the Falls just right to create a rainbow!
Crossing the border as a solo female definitely drew more questions than when Matt and I were traveling together. I got an early jump on the day, getting to the checkpoint around 8am, and the guard seemed a bit suspicious- are you carrying any weapons, any mace or pepper spray? What about a small compact gun? Are you meeting anyone? …way more questions than I’m used to, but he did let me in.
Unfortunately, nothing in Niagara really opens until 9, so I wandered up and down the Falls, enjoying the uncrowded view until things started opening and I could buy my bus pass:
According to the summer schedule, this bus run every 11 minutes between the Falls and the attractions to the north, and I never waited more than 10 minutes for a bus, so that schedule seems to be fairly accurate.
Unfortunately, again, the butterfly house doesn’t open until 10 am, so I spent some time wandering around the grounds:
Lots of flowers and native plants to check out!
This convenient board at the entrance showed all the butterflies currently flying:
I saw almost all of them, and got pictures of most of the ones I saw- there are several that look similar, and some that are super-skittish and didn’t want to stay still for pictures, but I wandered around for about 2.5 hours hunting for as many as I could find!
There were tons of these Owl butterflies hanging around the entrance!
Also hiding by the entrance were a bunch of these Variable cracker butterflies:
Also at the entrance, this giant Atlas moth!!!
He was about as big as my hand!
Zebra longwing, closed:
Zebra longwing, open:
Banded orange, closed:
Banded orange, open:
These guys reminded me of tigers!
Red postman:
Emerald Swallowtail!!!
I think these guys are the prettiest! Their scales shimmer, which makes it hard for my camera to focus on, but they have the neatest iridescent sheen to them!
This Malachite has a beautiful green/black pattern on his inside, but this one stubbornly stayed closed:
I took to calling this one the vampire butterfly, but he’s actually a Pinkspotted cattleheart:
(I like my name better!)
Also, I made a friend!
Butterflies here seemed more apt to land on you than other places I’ve visited- this guy stayed with me for close to an hour!
Tiger longwing (top) and Diadem (under):
A mating pair of Owl butterflies:
Common mormon:
Leafy guy! a Red-stripe leafwing:
and the inside:
Malachite:
Malachite from the inside:
Because he’s being backlit, this guy looks a bit more yellow.
I LOVE THIS BLUE GUY!!! a Mexican blue wing:
A kinda beat-up swallowtail, missing one of his tails 🙁
Diadem, closed:
Diadem, open!
I had seen a few spotted butterflies flitting around, but had trouble finding them to photograph because they look so different when folded up!
Ruby-spotted swallowtail:
(I wish the glare from the sun wasn’t so strong in this picture 🙁 )
A well-fed Tiger longwing:
and another:
I like the yellow ends on their antennas.
Zebra longwing:
Owl butterfly feeding station:
Tiger longwing:
Tailed jay:
I only spotted him once, but he was sooooo pretty!!!
Variable crackers, hiding on a tree:
Owl butterflies, not quite as well hidden:
I think this is another Tiger longwing, but he’s a darker morph:
Malachite!
Blue morpho!
As the name implies, this guy has the prettiest blue inside! Unfortunately, he barely stays still, and when he does, he stays folded up 🙁
White morpho:
Tiger longwing, sticking out his tongue:
Zebra longwing:
(longwings were probably the most common butterfly I saw, hence the overload on picture of them)
Tree nymph butterfly:
This one reminded me of a washed-out monarch.
Yet another Tiger longwing:
Isabella!
When they’re flying around, these guys look a lot like the Tiger longwings- it took me FOREVER to find this one!
Isabella, opened up:
(I think this one looks more like a tiger than the tiger longwing, but again, I’m not in charge of naming these things)
This is where most of the orange striped butterflies hung out:
Banded oranges:
Julia:
More banded oranges!
Plain tiger:
For whatever reason, I tended to see these guys upside down on the underside of a leaf.
The Mosaic:
(no, seriously, that’s what they named him! I wish he would have stuck around for a better picture, but he flitted off, never to be seen again just after I snapped this)
Blue frosted banner:
I only saw this guy once, but he had the most vibrant orange spots!
Diadem:
Another strange dark longwing:
Julia!
I’ve seen this one before, but they were a bit skittish this time.
Tiger longwing:
The Vampire:
(just kidding, this is The Pink Rose)
Diadem:
Diadem, open:
Malachite, closed:
Plain tiger:
A whole pack of Zebra longwings living in a tree!
and a Zebra longwing on me!
A beat-up old Swallowtail:
This Blue morpho opened just enough to see a hint of blue on his insides!
A statue covered in Crackers:
(something about the butterfly over the eye weirds me out a bit…)
Mating Julias:
A freshly hatched Pink-spotted cattleheart drying his wings!
Looking through the view hole at the chrysalises and other freshly-hatched butterflies!
Red postman, front:
Red postman, back:
A more intact swallowtail:
Zebra longwing:
Diadem:
This guy was doing weird things with his bottom- curling it back and forth… not sure what’s up with that…
Mexican blue wing:
Zebra longwing:
The Clipper:
Great mormon:
A very old Malachite:
This Common mormon would not stay still for pictures- I’ve got so many blurry pictures of him flying away!
Citrus swallowtail (another butterfly that didn’t want to stay still for pictures):
Citrus swallowtail, inside:
Pink-spotted cattleheart:
Pink-spotted cattleheart, open:
I’ll update this if I ever find out what this strange dark morph is:
Variable crackers on a tree:
Tree nymph:
Diadem:
Tiger longwing:
Blue morpho:
Blue morpho, open!!!
Common mormon (with more orange than I’d seen previously):
The Clipper:
Mexican blue wing, open:
Mexican blue wing, partially closed:
Blue morpho with a torn wing so you can see his inner blue!
Great orange tip:
This guy looks so unassuming until he opens his wings!
Diadem:
Red postman:
Atlas moth!!!
Pink-spotted cattleheart:
Emerald swallowtail:
And another one!
White morpho (front) and Blue morpho (back):
Tree nymph, closed:
Tree nymph, open-ish:
I only saw this guy once and he was WAY up high on the canopy wall- an Orange sulfur:
An upside-down Plain tiger:
Malachite:
Julia, with a curled wing:
Emerald swallowtail!
Pink-spotted cattleheart (front) with a Red lacewing (back):
Diadem:
The edges of his white spots have a blue sheen to them!
Common mormon:
Malachite:
He was pretty active, walking around and flexing his wings!
Pretty sure this is the same beat-up swallowtail I saw earlier:
A pair of Julia, probably getting ready to mate:
Blue morphos, fighting?
I was so excited to see that bottom guy with his wings open, then the top guy swooped in and grabbed the first one by his head…
The Clipper:
The Pink rose:
Blue moon, closed:
Blue moon, open!
Owl butterfly, closed:
Owl butterfly, open!
Diadem, closed:
Diadem, open!
Banded orange, closed:
Banded orange, open!
Tiger longwing:
Zebra longwing:
Red postman:
Red postman, open:
Julia:
Another mating pair of Julias:
A pair of Malachites!
Diadem, open!
One of my favorites, the Red lacewing!
Citrus swallowtail:
Regular swallowtail:
and one last Julia:
I had set my alarm to make sure I left the butterfly house with enough time to cross the boarder and catch all the buses that would get me back to the airport, but ended up leaving a bit early as the butterfly house was getting pretty crowded. And, as is the theme of my trip, it started raining.
Fortunately, the rain let up and I didn’t have to wait long for the next bus. And since I left a bit early, I had some extra time to grab one last snack from Tim Horton’s 🙂
Farewell, Canada and the Falls!
Coming back into the US was much easier than crossing into Canada- once I told the agent that I was visiting the Butterfly Conservatory, he understood why I was traveling solo 🙂
The bus back to Buffalo runs every hour and I was able to catch an earlier one back to the airport. It meant I now had an extra hour to kill at the airport, but I guess that’s better than missing a bus and cutting it close or having to Uber.
Farewell, Buffalo!