Tiger Longwing butterfly / Heliconius hecale

Problems with Flickr, again. This morning, I'm finding it difficult to even open the Flickr website. It worked this one time, but not two others - the pink and blue dots rolled forever. Hmm, I wonder what else I'll find that won't work. Just found the following from a Staff Member on the Help Forum:

"It looks like we are experiencing some network related issues. We are working hard to resolve them."

This photo was taken about two and a half weeks ago, on 8 September 2015. In the morning, I joined a group of friends for a three-hour stroll at Inglewood Bird Sanctuary. 38 bird species were seen, though I didn't manage to see any of the tiny, fast-moving Warblers. It was good to see 28 Wood Ducks, but they were far, far away, in an area that is still closed due to devastating flood damage. The Sanctuary had been closed for about two years for this reason and only very recently re-opened just a part of the area.

The Calgary Zoo is very close to the Sanctuary, so after our morning walk, I decided to call in at the Zoo. I hadn't been for about a year and I really missed going there. Of course, many of the garden flowers were past their prime, but I did find a few that were fit to photograph.

I knew I wouldn't be able to walk far, having already been walking all morning, but I really wanted to get to the ENMAX Conservatory to see what was going on. I had been longing all spring and summer to see the tropical butterflies and plants. The butterfly season will be coming to an end for these tropical beauties, but there were still plenty of them to be seen. Also, I was told that this month, the parking lot that I use will close for the winter and I don't like the drive back home from the north parking area, using Deerfoot Trail, so tend not to go to the Zoo all winter.

There was so much activity going on at the Zoo this day. People everywhere, carrying large animals wrapped in white, protective coverings, preparing for the ILLUMINASIA, Lantern & Garden Festival that has now just started. Each animal is an individual lantern and there are so many of them. I noticed that several of the real animals in their enclosures were watching all the unaccustomed activity, which made me smile.

A good day, despite the overcast sky, and plenty of photo opportunities. Recently, I have been finding far fewer things to photograph, with fall on its way and now already arrived, so a day like this was more than welcome.