Catching Butterflies

There is a special technique to catching a butterfly so that you do not injure it. You wait for the butterfly to land, and if he does, you swish toward it sideways, the flick the net over the hoop. It is not very easy – and if the butterfly doesn’t land, then it is even harder. Handling a butterfly also takes special skill. The safest way to do it is to not touch the wings, because it removes their scales, weaking them. Holding a butterfly gently on the thorax (head/upper body) is the only way to do it without causing damage, and the best way to get a good photograph, too.
The reason to catch a butterly is for identification. Because so many species are similar it is often necessary to catch one to see it up close. Since this was our first day out none of us felt very confident about the identification accuracy – so we let our PI confirm our judgements and he often corrected us, showing us the difference.
2 Comments:
You look really cute in these pictures... how have I been missing these post... oh good greef. your last post is posted in November 21st... and I was reading it October... but we are only on November 2... how far ahead are you guys any way. I miss you.
the last post wasn't Nov 21 - I post dated that entry to make it stay at the top - we are only 15 hours ahead of CA time - dont' panic.
You may want to look in the archives, too, for other posts you might have missed, I have the blog set to archive weekly since I have so much stuff on here.
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