Jeff has been full of bug-related surprises for Bracken lately: ladybugs, a praying mantis egg, and most recently they went on an adventure to town and he surprised Bracken with a butterfly net. It made me smile when Bracken gathered his things before he headed out the door one morning after he got his new net. His favorite basket for harvesting, a second basket (because he said he needed one for berries and one for flowers), and his butterfly net. When he heads out the door these days, his butterfly net is usually by his side. He gets upset if he sees a butterfly out the window while he is in the house and isn’t able to catch it.

Jeff and I have been catching moths and butterflies for him on occasion and I snapped a quick picture of the Oregon Swallowtail Jeff caught. (I’m thinking it’s a Western Tiger Swallowtail.) We handle them as carefully as possible to not damage their wings. Bracken puts his tiny moths and butterflies in the container his ladybugs came in. He keeps them for a short while and lets them go back to the garden. Bracken only had the Oregon Swallowtail butterfly in the container for a few minutes at most, but I realized the container was much too small for a butterfly that size and could have damaged it’s wings. Luckily it didn’t, but I think he is in need of a larger container for all his catches!