Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens - Jacksonville, Florida
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The many plant sections scattered throughout the zoo attract butterflies, dragonflies, and other creatures. In addition, there is a butterfly garden exhibit housing more than a half-dozen different types of butterflies.

There is a tiny Eastern Amberwing dragonfly on the tip of the closed lily bloom that was in the Savanna Blooms Garden.
[Green lilypads float on the blue water. One lily flower is partially open. The closed lily flower has a tiny orange dragonfly on it.]

A water lily with mating damselflies
[On one petal of a partially opened lilac-colored water lily are two damselflies hanging on to the edge. The tail end of one is attached behind the head of the other.]

When I zoomed in on my image of these two common green darner dragonflies mating (female on the left), I noticed a damselfly just to the right of them. The blue tip and clear wings on the damselfly indicate it could be a male Rambur's forktail.
[The male dragonfly with its green torso and blue back half is standing in the middle of a lilypad. The end of the male propped just behind the head of the female to the left of it. The female is missing parts of her wings as she stands with her tail end just over the edge of the lilypad. To the right of the dragonflies is a lone damselfly which is smaller in length and thickness than one leg of one of the damselflies. Its eyes are at the front edge of the wings and on the back end of the body is a blue bulb. ]

A gulf fritillary butterfly sampling the blooms.
[An orange butterfly with black dots, some of which have white dots within them, is perched on some light-blue flowers.]

A cloudless sulphur butterfly extends its long tongue.
[A yellow butterfly with a few faint brown dots hangs from light-blue flowers. Its tongue is long and curved from its mouth to the center of the flower which contrasts the long straight antennae protruding from the butterflies head.]

Giant swallowtail butterfly (It was noticeably larger than the other butterflies I saw.)
[A yellow and brown butterfly with a yellow body hangs from light-blue flowers. A section of its lower wing has orange and blue spots within a brown stripe. While the antennae are dark brown, it appears the legs are yellow.]

Atala butterfly
[This butterfly perched on a leaf has black wings. The lower wing has a three curved rows of irridescent light blue dots. There is also a square red section on the lower wing. The front part of the body is black with blue dots which appear to be a darker blue than the ones on the wings. The back half of the body is red-orange. The antennae are black and it appears the butterfly may have a forked tongue--or perhaps these are some type of short feelers.]

Zebra longwing butterfly
[This butterfly perched on a leaf has dark brown wings with thin white stripes. Its body is a continuation of the brown and white color from the wings except for a portion at the tail end which is brown and yellow. There are also a few orange-red spots at the base of the wings near the body. It appears to have large blue eyes. A long thin dark antenna is visible extending from the head.]

These are two different Julia butterflies which is why the coloring appears different.
[Two photos spliced together. On the left the butterfly is perched on a leafy branch with its wings held together over its back. This side view shows the undersides of the wings as light brown with two strips of dark brown and one section of white. The head is orange-brown and underbody is white. It has two long black antennas sticking upward. The photo on the right is a top down view of a butterfly perched on pink flowers. The wings and body are an orange-brown. There is a section of dark brown at the upper edges of the wings. A whitish stripe extends from the body to the outer edge of the right wing.]

Queen butterfly
[This butterfly perched on a blue mistflower has its wings spread exposing its body and the underside of the wings. The body of the butterfly is black with white spots. The wings are a burnished brown-red and edged with black. There are white spots scattered over both the brown and black parts of the wings. There are also some segment delineations which are black.]

Queen butterflies mating.
[The two butterflies are perched on the same thin branch facing away from each other with just the outer edges of their wings overlapping. We see the left side of one butterfly and the right side of the other. Both bodies are black with white dots. The wings are orangish-brown with black veins and edges and white dots across both the bodies and the edges.]

Monarch butterflies mating.
[The two butterflies are each hanging from a different leaf of a branch of tree which is hanging downward. They face away from each other with just the outer edges of their wings overlapping. We see the left side of one butterfly and the right side of the other. Both bodies are black with white dots. The wings are yellow-orange with black veins and edges. The edges have many white dots.]

Most of a buckeye butterfly
[This butterfly perched on a flower has its wings spread exposing its body and the top of the wings. The body of the butterfly is brown with two orange splotches on the top of each front wing and large circular blue-black sections on the edges of the wings. Nearly half of the lower right wing is missing. The body is brown and the antennas appear all white.]

Milkweed bug
[The back four legs of this six-legged insect are holding the green leaf on which the bug is walking up. The bug has black legs, black antennas, and a black and red body. Each antenna has three segments. The body has a horizontal black stripe in the middle. Below it is a red section which is similar to two triangles touching. The rest of the back end is black. The upper half of the body is red with a black patch.]

A carpenter bee enjoying a flower.
[A large all-black bee, including black wings, is perched on a thin, vertical hanging pink bloom. Green leaves are in the background.]

The underside of this orchard orbweaver spider has a 'happy face'.
[This all-green spider is in the middle of a web. On its underside, which faces the camera, are two yellow dots and a u-shaped red section. The yellow dots appear to be eyes above a smiling red mouth.]

Great blue skimmer dragonfly
[A close head-on view of the face and upper thorax of a silvery-blue dragonfly with big dark blue eyes, a black nose, and a white mouth. The individual hairs on its legs are visible at this close range.]

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All photos © S. M. Garver