Thursday, November 1, 2012

Butterfly World - Coconut Creek

One of the best places I have found to take my camera is
 Butterfly World
 in Coconut Creek. It's also one of the most expensive at $25.00 for an adult admission so I don't visit very often. They usually have a coupon on the website (above) so start with that when planning your trip.


The first time I visited Butterfly World, my daughter was young. I'm not sure if it was her white shirt or shampoo but several butterflies landed on her. People started taking pictures of the butterfly whisperer. I would like to show you mine but I did not have a camera with me that day. Not even a cell phone camera. That was the very last time I left the house without an image recording device of some sort.

Butterflies do not have a very long lifespan. To make sure there will be some for you to see, Butterfly World has a hatching program. You can even see some emerge from their cocoons and dry their wings if you time your visit just right.

Butterflies are constantly on the move and notice if you get close so the best shots are lucky close up or a bit easier with a long lens.











One of the things that go best with Butterflies and coincidentally photography, are flowers. Hundreds of butterflies can get pretty hungry and flowers sit still a whole lot better for the camera.

If you want to fill your photo album, walls, or website with color, you pretty much can just walk around a while with your finger on the shutter button, it's that easy. I'm more of a casual shooter who will stop and take a few shots of an interesting specimen for my collection. I've seen a some who will spend an hour with a tripod and expensive lighting to get the perfect shot of just one flower.

For me the challenge is the birds. Capturing a humming bird in flight is pretty much like capturing a bullet. Even in the small humming bird exhibit, it's hard to frame a shot. I have some very nice blurry wing and out of frame tail feather photos. I had to stand very still and wait for one to land on a branch to get a shot one I could post. Humming birds take a rest for about two seconds then back to the flowers.

The Lorikeet, a native of Australia, is my favorite and Butterfly World has an enclosure in which you can interact with them. Actually they interact with you. You will find them on your head, nibbling your ear, or standing on your camera. Be sure to bring a friend, buy them some bird food, and stand back with the video setting on. There is a good chance you will have a YouTube video in the making.
The admission price may seem a little high and much more than my typical Free adventures but as I flip through my pictures and the memories of my visits, I would say well worth it.

For more of my photos from Butterfly World. visit my Flickr site. If you have photos online to share, fell free to post them in my comments section.






1 comment:

  1. HAha! I knew it! Those Rainbow Lorikeets are going for World Domination!!

    ReplyDelete