THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, August 1, 1994 TAG: 9408010045
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRED KIRSCH, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 117 lines
There was the white-capped Overstreet. The blue-earringed Wright. And the black-and-orange-backed Hanson, to name a few.
In fact, there were almost as many varieties of humans as there were of butterflies at the Butterfly Family Festival.
More than 3,000 people came through the turnstiles at the Virginia Zoological Park on Sunday - many of them butterfly enthusiasts who alighted at the exhibit to learn more about caterpillar cages and butterfly gardens. And for kids, or kids at heart, there was a place to get a tiger swallowtail or monarch painted on their faces.
``I didn't know there were this many people interested in butterflies,'' said Lynda Wright, who had come from Newport News to find some fellow butterflyists. Or is it butterflyiacs?
``When you're into butterflies,'' said Wright, who was wearing butterfly earrings and a butterfly T-shirt and answers to the name ``The Butterfly Lady'' in her neighborhood, ``sometimes you kind of think you're the only one who's out there who is. This is wonderful.''
According to Virginia Butterfly Society President Julia Bristow, it undoubtedly was the largest collection of butterfly lovers in one place she'd ever seen. Bristow was hoping by day's end to net a bunch of new members.
Less than two years ago, it would have been easier to find an eastern tiger swallowtail in your back yard than a member of the Virginia Butterfly Society.
There weren't any. Not until Bristow, who said she has been interested in butterflies all her life, and a steering committee began drumming up interest in forming a group.
Now, the group has nearly 160 members, including one from Georgia and one from Wales.
The society, which promotes both the joy of butterflies and the importance of conservation, also has succeeded in getting the state to approve the issue of a license plate bearing the tiger swallowtail, the state insect.
``People always ask me what is it about butterflies that I find so interesting,'' said Bristow, who sat under one of the display tents.
``They symbolize the mystery of nature. The designer of the universe says `I give you plagues. I give you storms. I give your sorrow. But I give you beauty. I give you butterflies.' ''
For those looking Sunday to see butterflies, it was pretty hard to see one that wasn't under glass. The only sighting of a live butterfly at the festival was a gigantic black-and-orange-backed Hanson. Two-foot wings were attached to the back of 3-year-old Claire Hanson of Norfolk.
``My old Halloween costume,'' said Claire, who drew quite a crowd of photographers.
Those who wandered through the exhibits ranged from Kristen Markham and her 8-year-old sister, Kathy, from Virginia Beach who have started a butterfly garden and hope to build a caterpillar cage, to 75-year-old Carl Overstreet, a retired machinist from Chesapeake, who just wanted ``to learn something about butterflies other than they fly.''
From the displays and videos at the festival, whose chairman was Mark Schneider, the zoo's horticulturist, Overstreet learned:
While most butterflies live only days, the brownish-orange monarch is the toughest of all butterflies and is capable of flying thousands of miles.
By planting ``nectar'' flowers and plants - such as zinnias and verbenas - that butterflies feed on, and herbs - such as parsley and fennel - that caterpillars eat, you can create habitats for butterflies and increase the butterfly population.
The butterfly population is decreasing worldwide and particularly in the United States as the habitat they thrive in is destroyed.
The most popular attractions at the festival were the cases housing some of Stan Nicolay's collection of morpho butterflies from South America, as well as the many cases of butterflies common to Virginia, about 150 varieties in all.
The 77-year-old Nicolay is proof that real men might not eat quiche, but they collect butterflies. Nicolay is a former Marine Corps pilot.
``Being interested in butterflies is saying more than you collect them,'' Nicolay said.
``It says you're looking around at the world. There's so much to see if we'd only open our eyes. So many people go through life with blinders on. For me, collecting butterflies is an awareness and appreciation of life.''
Nicolay first began collecting butterflies in a jar as a child in Washington state and, ``I never grew up.''
He collected them throughout his career in the service.
``Back then, guys thought a Marine collecting butterflies was a little strange, to say the least. They'd see me running around with a net and think `This guy must be trying to get a Section 8 discharge.'
``Now people don't think I'm so strange. There's been a big change. If you would have held a butterfly festival 30 years ago, there would have been me and about six people.''
Nicolay's main collection of 42,000 butterflies is housed in the Smithsonian Institute. The Calycopis Nicolay, a small, brilliant butterfly found in the tropics, was named after him.
``Why do I keep doing it?'' he said. ``Because it's like a treasure hunt. Every time you go out there. There are butterflies flying around that we don't know exist. They don't have a name. There is so much more for us to learn.''
It was midafternoon and Lynda Wright and her family still were talking butterflies and walking through the exhibits, in no hurry to leave.
``Butterflies,'' said Wright, providing some perspective for a nonbutterfly person, ``are God's most beautiful creation. Except, of course, for grandchildren.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photos by MOTOYA NAKAMURA, Staff
Claire Hanson, 3, shows off her wings at the Butterfly Family
Festival on Sunday at the Virginia Zoological Park in Norfolk. The
festival, which featured displays and videos, taught enthusiasts
about caterpillar cages and butterfly gardens.
Bird-wing butterflies from Southeast Asia were displayed.
Bill Shealy, a member of the Virginia Butterfly Society, shows off a
butterfly collection to, from left, Kathy Markham, 8, Kristen
Markham, 11, and their father, Tom Markham.
Photo by MOTOYA NAKAMURA, Staff
Robert Winters, 3, checks out cocoons at the Butterfly Family
Festival on Sunday at the Virginia Zoological Park.
by CNB