Seattle Butterfly House

Most people probably think of the Seattle Pacific Science Center as somewhere to take their kids. And it would be great for that. Personally, I like to go to visit the Tropical Butterfly House. It's not as big as the Victoria Butterfly Gardens but it's well looked after and there are lots of butterflies. No doubt it gets busy, but first thing in the morning on a weekday was relatively quiet for us.

This one was posed conveniently just inside the door.

There were quite a few of these Pale owl-butterflies.

And also lots of these Malay Cruisers, although I didn't match up the top and bottom of the wings until later.

This next one is another Malay Cruiser but showing the bottoms of its wings. This was on a pool where there was a mister making "fog". At first there was too much fog to get a good photo, but then I realized I could blow enough fog away to get an interesting shot.

And this one was in a faceoff with a snail. The snail was winning - as it advanced the butterfly was backing up.

There were lots of other kinds, the trick was to find ones that would sit still to be photographed.

These Leopard Lacewings were one of the more colorful ones, on both sides of their wings.

There were also some nice flowers.

The science center courtyard has some water features and sculptures. And some good reflections of the buildings in the water.

I'm sure the kids like the dinosaurs, as do I.

It's interesting to compare the photographs from this visit with the ones from the last time I was here, in 2015.

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Seattle Sculpture Park

The Olympic Sculpture Park is on the waterfront near the ferry terminal (and our hotel). It's an enjoyable place to wander around.

The plants seemed slightly further along than in Victoria, but not by much. These seem more like crocuses but I think they're Winter Daffodils.

Whereas I think these are spring crocuses

They're often regarded as invasive pests, but I like starlings. From a distance they tend to just look black but they can be quite colorful if you catch them in the right light.

There were various birds on the water, including Surf Scoters with their funny looking bills.

and Common Goldeneyes with reflections :-)

There was also a cute little Cottontail rabbit in the park.

While this metal tree was quite striking, I think I prefer the real ones.

The larches were busy growing new needles. I enjoyed observing the larches at Innovation Place.

Oregon Grape was flowering

which the insects, like this Common Drone Fly, were also enjoying

And Red-flowering Current (I think)

This lichen was almost as colorful as the flowers

And with the water nearby, I couldn't pass up some reflections.

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Seattle Aquarium

Shelley and I took a short trip to Seattle on the Clipper passenger ferry. The ferry ride itself is longer, but because it leaves from downtown Victoria and goes to downtown Seattle, it's shorter than going to Vancouver. And we stayed at the Edgewater Hotel which is only half a block from the ferry terminal in Seattle.

We spent our first morning at the Seattle Aquarium. It's not huge, but it's a nice aquarium. We passed this suitably themed mural on the way.

Aquariums are a challenge for photography between the dim lighting and the glass and water and moving subjects. It didn't help that I started out with my camera at the wrong settings (leftover from a previous session). It's almost surprising when one turns out.

Amazingly, my aging iPhone sometimes does better than my expensive camera.

I prefer shooting stills rather than video, but sometimes it takes video to capture something, like these cuttlefish and anemone fish. (also by iPhone) I think cuttlefish are very cool. They are related to octopus and squid.

Anemones are also pretty cool.

And sea stars

The aquarium also has an outside area with harbor seals, oystercatchers, and killdeer, all of which we have in front of our place in Victoria.

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Amaryllis

My sister lent me her Amaryllis since she was going to be away when it flowered. It was interesting to watch the flower bud gradually develop and open. It has definitely been brightening up my office. It's gotten so top heavy that I had to tie it to the railing so it wouldn't fall over..