Slice of Life Tuesday Special Visitors

Today some special visitors came to my home. They quite literally flew in. I was sitting on the deck sharing a cup of tea in the faint autumn sunlight with my sife and a friend when I noticed some unexpected visitors hovering near the buddleias beside the creek.

At first I wasn’t sure if I was seeing things. Such visits are uncommon. However they are renowned for being able to travel significant distances and I have waited many years for them to visit. So the hope in my heart began to dance with anticipation.

I stood to gain a closer look. I approached them tentatively, not wishing to disturb them and still unsure that what my eyes were fixed upon matched the thoughts in my head. Were these magnificent butterflies that flittered around me actually the legendary Monarch butterflies also known as Wanderers?  Diving and swooping continually around the buddleias and along the creek their movement held me mezmerized. Finally,they flew up high and disappeared into the branches of a Weeping Willow before returning to the buddleias once more, propping to allow their delicate wings to soak up the vital sun like solar panels. 

These were the buddleias (butterfly bush) that I had planted some three years before in the hope of attracting exotic butterflies, -and now a cluster of what I strongly believed were the long awaited Wanderers were feasting on the dark purple flowers of my Black Buddleias. This was the pay off. This was realization of a simple dream. For years I had planted swan plants in the hope of specifically attracting Wanderers. It had been fruitless. Instead they had found the Buddleias.

I raced inside to get my camera. I needed evidence. This took quite some time. The butterflies rarely settled long enough for me to get the all important close up. After some considerable time, I had some shots of my visitors.

 I checked the photos I had taken against the photos of the Monarch Butterfly (Wanderer) on the internet. They certainly looked the same. I then emailed my photos to my friend Barry, a butterfly aficionado. He confirmed my suspicions. ‘They’re Wanderers alright’

When you’ve waited so long for something to arrive, its like being a kid again. You are alive with the thought and the moment.



Comments

  1. Linda B5 April 2011 at 23:40

    Lucky you, finally to receive the long awaited reward. I liked seeing the evidence, too.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Elizabeth G.6 April 2011 at 00:52

    What a great reward after all the anticipating and patience. They truly are beautiful creatures. Hopefully your butterfly blush appeals to many more Wanderers.

    ReplyDelete
  3. elsie6 April 2011 at 05:50

    You were in the right place at the right time, lucky you! I love your descriptions throughout this piece. Monarchs are very common around my home, I have never heard them called Wanderers.

    ReplyDelete
  4. CSPeterson6 April 2011 at 12:57

    What a wonderful moment! The pictures are lovely, and so is the place you live!

    ReplyDelete
  5. klcoveney7 April 2011 at 00:05

    That first picture is stunning Alan! I love watching all the wildlife in my garden. It's definitely a discussion and writing piece with my kids.
    We have a huge variety of birds (kookaburras, magpies, rosellas, king parrots, owls and tawny frogmouths) up at our place as well as echidnas, geckos, bush rats (them I am not so keep on), blue tongue lizards and skinks, brush tail and ringtail possums...and the list goes on!
    Bringing the photos into class creates a lot of discussion and students make connections with what I have seen and can go away and write about their connections in their Writer's Notebook.

    ReplyDelete

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