Bevadine Zoma Terrell

"MY FRONT YARD BUTTERFLIES"

“My Front Yard Butterflies”

A butterfly lights beside us, like a sunbeam. For a brief moment, it’s glory, and beauty belong to our world. But then it flies on again, and although we wish it could have stayed, we are so thankful to have seen it all.

Author Unknown

Every spring and summer many different butterflies visit my front lawn in Washington, D.C. between the months of April through October. They land on my bushes, shrubs, and flowers. I often see the “American Lady Butterfly” (April, May, June, September) “Common Buckeye Butterfly” (May, August, September, October), “Eastern Tiger Swallowtail” (April through September), “Monarch Butterfly” (April through October)” and Painted Lady Butterfly (April, May, August September).” Although, there are others that stop by, the ones mentioned are daily visitors. They seem to be very comfortable and not worried by the viewers. They even stay still long enough for me to sometimes take their photographs. They fly around as if they do not have a care in the world. I enjoy observing their display of wing colors, pattern, and wing shape. When I am viewing them from my front porch or up close, they seem to do a butterfly dance over, and on the shrubs, bushes, and flowers in my yard. As a child growing up in Vauxhall, New Jersey there were many butterflies. I can remember myself chasing butterflies around our backyard or at the park, hoping to catch one. I was never successful. In my recent research on butterflies I discovered that Washington, D.C. does not have a state butterfly although there are many different types of butterflies that frequent our area. The official butterfly of my home state, New Jersey, is the “Black Swallowtail.”

“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.”

Author - Maya Angelou