Thursday, August 05, 2010

The beauty of butterfly watching

When I go for jogging in the park forest nearby, I am always watching out for butterflies. They are lovely creatures. I used to try to catch them when I was a child, but nowadays I just observe their behavior.

The most interesting feature of behavior to watch is the route that they take. The butterfly flight paths should be in principle chosen carefully for the survival value (i.e., in search of nectar, possible mates, and avoiding predators), and yet are full of rapid turns and apparently whimsical perturbations at the same time.

The beauty of butterfly watching is that you never know when and from where they are coming. Every corner of your vision becomes a potential route of entry for the airborne creature. By waiting for the butterflies, your sensitivities are kept alive and vibrant.

Yesterday, I was lucky to observe a beautiful specimen of Great Mormon (Papilio memnon Linnaeus). This magnificent butterfly used to be more southern bound. Probably due to the effects of global warming, we can now observe Great Mormons in Tokyo, too.

Thus, while jogging among the greens, I can sometimes encounter a messenger from the south.


A Great Mormon.

4 comments:

Tsumabenicho said...

I often saw the butterfly and the flower in my childhood. The tubelike flower is probably Crocosmia called " ピーピー草 " in dialect.
As the root of the tube was full of nectar, I could watch a butterfly landing on the flower for a long time.

The encounter was a marvelous reward for your morning jogging among the greens. The park forest might be a generous foster parent of the Great Mormon. I am happy to imagine a secondary natural butterfly-garden in the middle of the big city.

yuzu said...

Dear:Mr.Mogi
Your words are so stimulative beauty.
It is like a butterfly.
No no, you are like a butterfly.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful

paraisotaka said...

HI, Dr. Mogi,
I enjoyed reading "the beauty of butterfly watching".
The article gave me some insight on how butterfly flies in the air.
My most favorite one is Papilio bianor. Their swallow tail part has amazing blue color.