I am not sure how many butterflies that Audrey has raised this year. I know that each one that she releases is hard. She would love to keep each of them as long as possible.
It was time to release her last emerged butterfly and we decided to wait till evening so we could get a good picture of the release. Somehow, the butterfly tore his wing as we waited but we were not concerned until, after Audrey released him, he fluttered to the ground and stayed there.
Audrey picked him up and tried again, disappointed that her butterfly was hurt. He fluttered to the ground again. Thinking he might never be able to fly properly, we decided to try one more time. This time, as Audrey released him, the tip of his wing fell off and he quickly flew away.
Beautiful!