ephemeral

They say “butterflies are free.”  I say “butterflies are fleeting.”

As I took pictures of many of these butterflies at the World of Butterflies at Marikina Heights, Marikina City, I thought that I could take photographs of them in flight. Alas, I was not able to. They glided from one leaf to another, and then they fluttered from one plant to another. They maneuvered themselves such that my camera just could not be fast enough to focus. Of course I tried to do multiple consecutive shots, yet I was just not able to predict their flight path. Thus if I was able to take good shots of them staying in one place for more than a second, it could be precious.

Mr. Fabrial Tayag, breeder and guide of the said center, commented that many of the butterflies, after going through the stages of eggs, larva, and pupa, live only for just weeks (as short as two weeks even).  He added that the male adults die upon mating, while the females reach death upon laying eggs. I am not quite sure about the veracity of his claims, but it only shows how these beautiful creatures are truly ephemeral. Butterflies just come and go to make our world a little more colorful, a little more wonderful. The trouble though one has to be fast enough to capture their beauty.