I've been itching to tell this story for several weeks.Last month, I found this stunning butterfly floating legs up in a pail of water inside the greenhouse. A little sad, I scooped it up, showed it to David, took a couple pictures, and then set it on a piece of paper. I placed the paper on a table.
The next afternoon, I looked him up on the computer and concluded that he was probably an American Apollo Butterfly or Clodius Parnassian. I thought I'd better be sure by checking out the real thing on the table, but when I went to retrieve him, I found him MIA. I started looking under everything, assuming that a good wind probably blew him under a chair or into the corner .
A fluttering sound against the screen of our yurt window caught my attention, however, and that's when I saw it. An Apollo Butterfly, just like the one I pulled from the water! He let me scoop him up and carry him outside. When I opened my hands, he stood there for a minute or two, not licking salts from my hand, just standing and staring. During this time, I was tempted to go inside, grab the camera and snap a couple pictures. I knew I'd risk losing him to the captivity of the yurt, however, so I just sat in a chair on the porch and watched him. He eventually flew away.
That was a good day and I've never found the butterfly I scooped from the pale of water.