While we were in Florida visiting family, we spent a few hours one morning at the Butterfly Rainforest in Gainesville, FL. The Butterfly Rainforest is part of the Florida Museum of Natural History.

The Butterfly Rainforest is a large greenhouse with hundreds of free-flying butterflies. At any time – there are between 55 and 65 different species of butterflies in the rainforest. Starting this year, the collection of butterflies includes African butterflies.

Bill and I had a great time photographing the butterflies. Here are a few of our photos from the Butterfly Rainforest.

The first photo is of a Monarch Butterfly.

Monarch Butterfly (c) 2008 Patty Hankins

I loved the look of this one – with the neon green on the wings.

Tailed Jay (c) 2008 Patty Hankins

I believe this is one of the African Butterflies – the wings are incredibly detailed.

Giant Charaxes (c) 2008 Patty Hankins

This butterfly’s wings are pale yellow on the inside.

Tree Nymph (c) 2008 Patty Hankins

This orange and black butterfly posed nicely on the bright yellow flowers for me.

Male Banded Grecian Shoemaker (c) 2008 Patty Hankins

I’m not able to identify most of the butterflies I photographed at the Butterfly Rainforest. If anyone knows what any of them are – please let me know.

The Butterfly Rainforest is open year round, except for Christmas and Thanksgiving. Hours are 10 AM – 5 PM Monday – Saturday, and 1 PM – 5 PM on Sundays. The Butterfly Rainforest welcomes photographers – but does prohibit commercial photography. You can not use a tripod in the Butterfly Rainforest. Admission is charged to enter the Butterfly Rainforest. Directions and other information about visitng the Butterfly Rainforest are on their website.

The Butterfly Rainforest is definitely worth a visit if you are in the Gainesville area. They are very photographer friendly – with lots of volunteers and staff available to answer questions you have about the butterflies. I’m sure we’ll pay them another visit on future trips to Florida.

5/20/08 Update – I’d like to thank Morgan Lamborn of the Florida Museum of Natural History and Ryan Fessenden of the Butterfly Rainforest for identifying all the butterflies for me!