As you may know – we have been raising butterflies (Painted Lady Butterflies) in our classroom. They are ready to be released – so we took advantage of the sunshine this morning.
When we first went out, the butterflies were quite still. We set their net in the sunshine and opened it. You might think that the butterflies would be anxious to fly up high right away – but it actually took them about 30 minutes to all decide to fly out of the netting. Some stayed safely in the net and took a few more sips of Gatorade and Pineapple Juice. We then lifted their food tray out of the net and they stayed with it even on the ground out side. We learned earlier that butterflies need a body temperature of 30C to fly – so we think they needed to soak up some sunshine before they could fly away.
As some of the butterflies warmed up, they came out of the netting – they did not fly away. instead they landed on the ground and on us. Some people had them land on their hand, knee, shoe and shirt. It was exciting. It tickles when the butterflies walk on your skin.
When the butterflies were ready, they flew straight up – higher than the school even. But we noticed that after a few minutes, many had returned to rest and feed on the nearby flowers.
Some of the butterflies were attracted to the nearby metal wall – we think it is because the wall was warm to the touch.
We hope that our butterflies will survive to help pollinate our plants, migrate south, and lay more eggs!
Bon voyage!