The habitat is all but done. The chrysalis box is up, the flowers are planted and all that's left is the exterior of the habitat and a small patch of mulching. Once these final steps are completed all that's left is the addition of the butterflies and the education materials.
In preparation for the opening of the garden, myself and other volunteers attended a butterfly training session to go over our duties as well as Butterfly Behavior 101 with the butterfly supplier for Stan Hwyet. I learned some new information as well as remembering my elementary school science class lessons about butterflies. Some of my favorite factoids were: 1. When laying eggs, the female monarch will drum on the leaf to figure out how many other eggs are already there as well as checking for hidden predators. 2. Butterflies smell with their antenna, taste with their feet and eat with a straw like mouthpart called a proboscis. and 3. Butterfly poop is called frass.
In preparation for the opening of the garden, myself and other volunteers attended a butterfly training session to go over our duties as well as Butterfly Behavior 101 with the butterfly supplier for Stan Hwyet. I learned some new information as well as remembering my elementary school science class lessons about butterflies. Some of my favorite factoids were: 1. When laying eggs, the female monarch will drum on the leaf to figure out how many other eggs are already there as well as checking for hidden predators. 2. Butterflies smell with their antenna, taste with their feet and eat with a straw like mouthpart called a proboscis. and 3. Butterfly poop is called frass.
After the butterfly lesson, I headed to the hoop house with Fran, the butterfly supplier and a few other volunteers. Here, we released a couple of butterflies, mostly painted ladies and mourning cloaks.