Round-tailed ground squirrel in awe of a butterfly!

It’s Spring in the desert southwest, but only for a few more days! Then, the 100-degree-plus days begin. It’s a good thing I enjoy the hot weather.

But for now, the desert is still in bloom, the days are relatively cool, and the Phoenix Desert Botanical Gardens has a special butterfly exhibit running through the middle of May. If you ever have an opportunity to go to the botanical gardens, I’d strongly recommend it. Their displays of local flora are unrivaled. It’s a great way to learn about the desert while spending a couple of pleasant hours roaming through the exhibits.

However, the reason I was there was for the butterflies. The butterfly exhibit is relatively small, but it was packed with colorful butterflies and beautiful flowers for landing pads. The docents were helpful and ushered visitors into and out of the exhibit to make sure none of the butterflies rode along on their clothing. People packed the small space, but were kept to a manageable size so that visitors could wander around without too much crowding.

I’ve created a “Butterflies” Gallery here on my web site, so click on the menu link above to see some of the winged wonders I was able to capture. Oh, and even the ground squirrels came out to stand in awe of the butterflies (not the best technical photograph, but it was a fun way to capture the end of the visit).