Wow! Did I have fun today! The San Diego Safari Park had their spring Butterfly Encounter and this was the first year I was home to see it. The butterflies flew around you in an open-air aviary. (Please click to enlarge).
We all were mesmerized. I was blown away by how gentle the little children were, cupping their hands to protect the landing butterflies.
See for yourself, the butterflies were ethereal!
The flowers were pretty amazing too~
It was wonderful to be reminded how much children naturally love our planet’s creatures.
The butterflies reminded me of the ones I saw in Iguazu Falls who loved to hitch rides on humans.
You had to be inspected before you left to make sure you weren’t carrying out a hitchiker!
They were not the least bit afraid.
What an amazing experience!
I almost made it out with this hitchiker on me!
Cheers to you from our planet’s amazing flying flowers~
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What gorgeous colours they all are.
Aren’t they incredible! What a sensory treat!
They are beautiful. You caught the brilliance of their hues so will.
Thank you sincerely but they get the credit, gorgeous flutterbyes!
🙂 well thanks for sharing so I could see.
Breathtaking!
And so gentle!
Fantastic work with the macro! Great composition!
Gorgeous!
So wonderful to see them flying and feasting!
Great captures!
Merci beaucoup!
Absolutely gorgeous – that first shot is so crisp. I feel like I can reach out and encourage that orange butterfly to land on my hand. It must have been exhilarating to see these beautiful critters up close…
If you reached out, he would have landed on your hand, and stayed there too! Wonderful! Thank you so much~
This is so wonderful:)
As are you my friend~
These are perhaps the most outstanding butterflies I’ve ever seen. So many varieties. And such color. So glad you were able to get by — we’ve all profited from your experience!
Oh that is incredibly sweet and so very appreciated!
Wow cool.. So delicate:)
Aren’t they magnificient! Thank you~
il nostro mondo meraviglioso!!!! di quanta bellezza ci circondaa! grazie infinite per questi scastti favolosi
buon giorno!
our wonderful world!!!! how much beauty there circondaa! Thank you so much for these fabulous scastti
🙂
Sì, viviamo in un mondo pieno di bellissime creature e figli meravigliosi! Grazie amico mio!
Your photos are so pretty. Butterflies are stunning creatures. Their beauty is so unique.
What a lovely comment! Thank you~
you are so welcome:)
Fantastic image!
Mil grazi! 🙂
outstending!
Vielen danke!
Cindy these beautiful butterflies rival the gorgeous flowers you always share…I feel so blessed tonight because I love butterflies and they have inspired many poems for me! Thanks for sharing the pictures they are so very beautiful! God bless!
Ahhhhh! How perfectly wonderful, you and your beautiful poems! Blessings to you my friend~
I wonder if the feeling I have looking at these is a drop in the bucket compared to how you must have felt to be there? Cindy, I had to remember to breath while looking at your exquisite photos of these beautiful painted creatures. Thank you times 10!
P
Awwww, kind and thoughtful sentiments like these are what makes blogging so wonderfully rewarding! Thank you my friend and hugz~
You are more than welcome…those images are still on my mind. Hugz back.
P
Wonderful photos of beautiful butterflies. Thanks for sharing these. I am a little envious of the opportunity to experience something like this.
I have to admit I was wondering why I have never managed to be home for the exhibit before. It was simply incredible. Some times when you travel a lot you miss the wonders right under your nose~
Just beautiful Cindy. What a combo, flowers and butterflies…WOW
That’s pretty much all it takes for me to be in bliss!!!
Totally amazing, Cindy. That dark one with the blue-shot wings is unbelievable 🙂
Gorgeous isn’t he! What an incredible world we live in~
Without a doubt, this is the most stunning set of butterflies photographs I’ve seen taken at one “session”. Tip of the cap to you, Cindy.
Ahhhh, so incredibly kind and appreciated!
Wow, wonderful shots!
Thanks! It would be pretty hard though not to take a good shot of these amazingly photogenic beauties~
Reblogged this on Sacred Wolf .
Between the flowers and the butterflies I don’t know which one is prettier,I think they both are.
I am going to agree with you on this, it was beautiful sensory overload! The landscaper is a genius!
Awesome pictures of those beautiful creatures!
Merci beaucoup my friend~
I love flutterbys! We went to a butterfly place in St. Thomas, oh what beautiful flying flowers they have down there. I learned a lot from talking to the keepers. The lil buggers do like to sit on humans. . Maybe cuz we’re warm? Anyway. Great photos! I love how you can see the pattern in the eyes!
I certainly saw and photographed a lot of incredible butterfies in the Caribbean, but a butterfly place there? Must have been outstanding~
blessings Cindy, a heavenly post, thank goodness for butterflies, they have so much to teach us 🙂
I always get this sense they are spiritual messengers, something heavenly and divine, come to cheers us up and say ‘life is beautiful’~
yes indeed, and to show us how life does not end but simply transforms constantly 🙂
Wonderful point!! Thank you for reminding me~
🙂 heart to heart Cindy
What an experience. Beautifully narrated and illustrated 🙂
So kind and so appreciated~
Gorgeous. Love the expression, flying flowers. And, yes, how sweetly the little ones hold the butterflies.
Considering all the bad news in the media everyday about the youth of America, it was so wonderful to be reminded of the incredible sweetness of children.
And I was also reminded of our wonderful young ones yesterday when I read this by Tomie dePaola, in his author’s note on The Legend of the Bluebonnet; “….She -Who-Is-Alone’s act of thrusting her beloved doll into the fire to save her people represents the decisive sort of action that many young people are capable of, the kind of selfless action that creates miracles.”
Lovely.
They truly are! Thank you~
Unbelievable wonderful! Never seen before so beautiful butterflies. Thank you so much for showing.
Wow, so neat that you were able to witness them this year – beautiful little creatures.
About time I went! I think I may go back and focus on the Blue Morphos!!
Lovely pics Cindy – I especially like the top one. Great detail! RH
Thank you, stupendous creature isn’t he!
What magnificence…
Remember the days when people saw butterflies, caught them and pinned them to a board? Ugh…..This was perfection!
This was wonderful to see. I forgot how beautiful they are—and so many kinds. They are truly a marvel of nature.
They are indeed and so utterly benign! Pollinaters that look like flowers~
Thank you! I so love butterflies. I love them so much I’ve allowed milkweed to run rampant in my garden for the monarch butterflies. Your photos are breathtaking:D
Yep. We are kindred spirits. A basic query of planting for me is, will it attract flutterbyes??
These are exquisite photos of your aptly named ‘flying flowers’!
Awww, so kind!
Very beautiful and varied butterflies, Cindy. Ontario has a butterfly conservancy only 7 miles from my house and I rarely go. It is a wonderful place though.
Oh please go!! I would so love to see your photos!
Great photographs, what fun.
It was purely joyful! Plus I had ice cream afterwards! Laughing…..life is good!
Life is good whenever there is ice cream close by. 😀
My thoughts exactly. There was this little boy who said to his mom, “There’s a lady having ice cream BEFORE lunch!”
Mom says, “I know.”
Boy, “I want ice cream before lunch.”
Mom says, “No.”
Boy, “That lady is……..”
Laughing. It took all my restraint not to buy the kid an ice-cream~
How wonderful.. I would love to visit a butterfly conservatory sometime. I think it would be magical.
It is, and was, and I hope you do!
I’ve never seen butterflies this close! Too beautiful, Cindy!
You have to visit! I would love to see your photos!
Have seen your exquisite photos, I need not to bring my camera 🙂 Yep, I mentioned to my husband the other day that the park is on our list.
Can’t wait to see YOUR photos!
These are such amazing shots Cindy. My jaw was dropping as i was scrolling down. Very beautiful work.
Awww, so encouraging and so motivating! Mil grazi~
You are very welcome!
Oh wow, I would love to visit this place! It’s really something that the butterflies grow so used to people. As always, beautiful photographs, Cindy.
Thank you ma deah’ and cheers to you~
I love the title — “Flying Flowers” — you chose; it is so apt! Wonderful photos!
Just so happy you enjoyed and commented! Cheers to you~
Love this! And the title is so perfect. “Flying flowers” … lovely.
Awww gracias mi amigo~
Amazing photos! 🙂
Very happy you like them & thanks so much for stopping by~
Cindy, these are spectacular — thanks for sharing them here!
Wonderful beauty! More pins for my Pinterest! Thank you, Cindy!
Gosh!!
What fun that must’ve been! You really captured the essence of these beautiful creatures. Thank you for sharing such loveliness.
Thank you for appreciating!
Its joy to look at these pictures.Jalal
Yay!! Thank you my friend~