Butterflies & Moths
As a child, I loved going into the woods in Massachusetts where I grew up, to look for local wildlife. Due to the cold winters, Massachusetts was fairly limited as to what kind of butterflies you could see, specifically in terms of size! The largest we would see would probably be oversized Monarch butterflies. I didn’t get to go to a butterfly house as a kid, so as I entered into the GT Butterfly House & Bug Zoo it was almost like entering back into childhood!
I took many pictures, but none of them were as cool as the ones you can find on the GT Butterfly House Facebook page.
At TC Journey Church we offer monthly Adventure Club opportunities for our local community where we explore the amazing resources available to us in the Traverse City area, often outdoors. In May, we went to the Butterfly house and it was fantastic!
As a Biblical church, we place a very high value on nature as one of God’s gifts to people. I found myself experiencing wonder as I handled large insects under the helpful guidance of the Butterfly House staff. They allowed us to handle invertebrates in the zoo portion of the facility, and we were blown away by the beetles, centipedes, and other exotic critters.
I watched children, including my son laugh, giggle, and ask lots of questions about the specimens. Of all the things we saw, I was most taken back by the Atlas Moth, pictured below, credit to the GT Butterfly House Facebook page.
It can be hard to tell from the picture, but this moth has large transparent spots on it, that you can fairly well see through. This moth is very large, easily 8 inches or more across!
To see the butterflies, you enter into a greenhouse, with greenery all around the inside, as well as some water features. This was no disappointment, there were HUNDREDS of butterflies and moths, all flying around. Many landed on people in our group, and it was amazing the transformation you would see on the kids. They all respected the delicacy of these critters, and you would even hear them speaking in hushed tones to not disturb our little friends.
To those of us who are people of faith, it was such a beautiful testimony of God’s goodness and creativity. I left the place inspired and cannot recommend it enough.
Luke Morgan
Pastor at TC Journey Church