Judy Istock Butterfly Haven at Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum

Heliconius melpomene..

For more images click here..

 

Judy Istock Butterfly Haven at

Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum

2430 N Cannon Dr Chicago

May 30, 2012:

A day trip to Judy Istock Butterfly Haven..

And you see it all.. colourful butterflies sipping sweet nectar, opening their wings wide open for sunning, engaging in territorial fights, courtship dance and mating..  And then observe some interesting facts, how male of the species are more colorful and smaller than female counterparts,  and how the colors of the inner and outer wings may be widely different!!!  To add, there is butterfly release everyday and you may see a  just emerged butterfly [from the chrysalis] first flight! And when you leave the Haven, see the chrysalis and emerging butterflies...

 

Sipping nectar

[Male] Cairns Birdwing / Ornithoptera euphorion..
Family: Papilionidae ...

They are so huge that the name Birdwing!

The above and below images are of the male Cairns Birdwing. and then are images of female of the same species [Cairns Birdwing].. Note how males are more colorful and smaller than their female counterpart.

You can check more images of this species  click here..

Wings open..

[Male] Cairns Birdwing / Ornithoptera euphorion..
Family: Papilionidae

[Female] Cairns Birdwing / Ornithoptera euphorion..

Family: Papilionidae

Wings open

[Female] Cairns Birdwing / Ornithoptera euphorion.
Family: Papilionidae

 

Sunning!!!

Blue Morpho / Morpho melanus ...

And this is a particularly interesting butterfly.  

See how different it looks with it's wings closed.. Image below..

Blue Morpho / Morpho melanus ...

Territorial fight?  Or fight for mating?

Rice Paper Butterfly / Idea leuconoe..
Family: Brush-footed butterfly/ Nymphalidae ...

And here are some more images Rice Paper Butterfly click here..

 Mating

Thaos Swallowtail  / Papilio thaos

Butterfly release in the Haven

A giant Owl Butterfly sits of the bench and a great photo-op!

And as you leave the Butterfly Haven, you can observe  butterflies emerging from Chrysalis..

As a marker reads..

The Chrysalis is the third stage of a butterflies life. In this stage, the larve changes from a caterpillar to an adult. This change is called metamorphosis.

Nature Museum staff do not breed butterflies in the Judy istock Butterfly Haven, but instead purchase the chrysalis from butterfly farms around the world.

Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum

Steel Root by Steve Tobin   click here..

By blog on Butterfly Haven, with more than 70 species of butterflies listed..
The Butterfly Haven  click here..

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Lurie Garden, Millennium Park [May, 2012]

Meadow Sage [Salvia sylvestris]

Family: Lamiaceae / Mint family

The Lurie Garden at Millennium Park..
Designed by Gustafson Guthrie Nichol Ltd, Piet Oudolf and Robert Israel..
It pays homage to Chicago's motto, "Urbs in Horto".
This post has only a few images of flowers, that I took today. For more about the garden. its, native plant aspect, New Wave Planting style and landscape, click on the links below..
Related Links..
Lurie Garden, Millennium Park..
Lurie Garden [New Wave Planting Style]..
Lurie Garden [Landscape]..

Jerusalem sage  [Phlomis tuberosa] ..
Family: Lamiaceae / Mint family

Bee Balm / Bergamot  [Monarda bradbaryana] ..

Family: Lamiaceae / Mint family

Wild White Indigo [Baptisia leucantha ]

Family: Fabaceae ... Pea family.

Bowman's Root / Indian Physic / Fawn's Breath  [Gillenia trifoliata] ..

Family: Rosaceae / Rose family ..

Blue Star  [Amsonia 'Blue Ice'] ..

Family: Apocyanaceae / Dogbane Family ...

Allium "Star of Persia" [ Allium christophii ]...

Family: Alliaceae / Onion family

Autumn Moor Grass [Sesleria autumnalis]

Family: Poaceae / Grasses

Meadow Sage [Salvia sylvestris]

Family: Lamiaceae / Mint family

Meadow Sage [Salvia sylvestris]

Family: Lamiaceae / Mint family

Related Links..

Lurie Garden, Millennium Park..
Lurie Garden [New Wave Planting Style]..
Lurie Garden [Landscape]..

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Chicago NATO Summit 2012

Anti War protests
Chicago NATO Summit 2012..

Randolph Street, Chicago Loop..

Anti War protests

Anti War protests

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Summer in the city

May 10, 2012..
I was following the summertime entry of sailboats to Lake Michigan, through the Chicago River..and the fascinating bridgelifts .. And just before the boats completed their long journey, there was this.. the water arc / water jet  from Nicholas J Melas Centennial Fountain [..click here ] which shoots every hour was in full fury.. It was kind of fun watching this!
Here is the last part of the sailboat's journey..

Crosses the Michigan Avenue bridge..

Crosses the Columbus Drive bridge..

Time to cross the Nicholas J Melas Centennial Fountain..

There was no option.. Maybe they enjoyed the water spray, after a very long journey..

Enjoy your summer stay ...

For more on Nicholas J. Melas Fountain ..click here

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Chicago River Bridge Lifts

DuSable bridge/ Michigan Avenue bridge

May 10, 2012..

A beautiful summer day! And I walked along the Chicago River, to enjoy and photograph, a summer-ritual that takes place each year: Chicago River Bridge Lifts..

Chicago is famous for its movable bridges. Each year in spring and fall seasons, these bridges lift, to accomodate the entry and exit of sailboats and other tall vessels, to and from Lake Michigan, for the summer months.

I followed the bridge lifts from Lake street bridge to Lakeshore Drive bridge..

Lake Street bridge

Franklin-Orleans Street bridge

Wells Street bridge

LaSalle Street bridge

Clark Street bridge

Dearborn Street bridge

State Street bridge

Wabash Avenue bridge

 

Michigan Avenue bridge

Columbus Avenue bridge

Lakeshore Drive bridge

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Farnsworth House - by Mies van der Rohe

Farnsworth House..
Architect: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Location: River Road, Plano, Illinois..
Completed: 1951 [Built between 1945 and 1951]
A weekend retreat for Dr. Edith Farnsworth..

The house joined the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.
It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006.
It is currently owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012..
A day trip to Farnsworth House, Plano.. with two awesome friends, Debra Purden and Lynn Becker.. I owe them a huge Thank You!! It was our weekday retreat to a weekend vacation home. Here are some images from the day..

A Glass house made on the Mies' minimalist concept of "less is more".. embodies a certain aesthetic culmination in Mies van der Rohe’s experiment with this building type.

From the website.. Farnsworth House
As historian Maritz Vandenburg has written in his monograph on the Farnsworth House.. “Every physical element has been distilled to its irreducible essence. The interior is unprecedentedly transparent to the surrounding site, and also unprecedentedly uncluttered in itself. All of the paraphernalia of traditional living –rooms, walls, doors, interior trim, loose furniture, pictures on walls, even personal possessions – have been virtually abolished in a puritanical vision of simplified, transcendental existence. Mies had finally achieved a goal towards which he had been feeling his way for three decades."

Landscape is an intergral part of the design. Such a glasshouse is possible only because it is built in a secluded area with no buildings aound it..

Farnsworth House through the woods..

The building is currently undergoing restoration work. Two window frames have been removed to resolve steel corrosion issues. A bit of a disappointment, because view of a perfect glasshouse and its perfect picture was not possible. So here the images of the building under restoration.

This large Maple tree is now towards the end of it's life and supported by many wires. But once, in its glory days, it was lush and majestic. The house was so planned, that this tree provided the much needed shade in the summer days..

The house runs parallel to the Fox River. Since the location is in the flood plain of the river, is elevated, about five feet above the ground. [If obeserved closely, the river can be seen in the background - left corner of the image]..

Fox River, as seen from the house..

Farnsworth House is an absolutely fascinating place! Images cannot capture the wonderful experience of actually being there. So many things can be written about architecturally historic significance of this building, about the love-hate affair between Mies and Dr. Fransworth, the nailbiting story of auction and purchase.. But here are only a few images.
Again a big Thank You to debra Purden and Lynn Becker.. who made this daytrip absolutely AWESOME!!!

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