Costa Rica Journal: Prettiest Creature – Blue Morpho
Posted by Ted Hopton on March 1, 2008
Easily the prettiest wildlife I saw in Costa Rica was the Blue Morhpo butterfly. I did not get a good picture of one, but I selected the image at right because you can see how large these bright blue butterflies are.
The first one I saw startled me — I thought either my eyes were playing tricks on me, or someone else was. As we sat eating lunch in La Danta Salvaje after swimming in the 500′ waterfall’s pool, I saw what appeared to be a nearly neon bright disk flashing blue, disappearing, then flashing bright blue again, on and off in an erratic pattern in the air going across the river. I called out for others to look, and David identified it as a Blue Morpho butterfly. As the wings flapped open I saw the flashes of blue, and as they closed, it seemed to disappear at such distance.
The next day, at the other swimming hole, we saw another one, much closer and more clearly, as it fluttered close by us on its way. They are gorgeous creatures, with their iridescent blue wings catching the sunlight. Between the Blue Morpho and the glowing click beetles, insects were some of the most interesting wildlife we saw in Costa Rica.
