Field Notes: Glasswing Butterflies (Patreon)

Looking at this serene glasswing butterfly perched on Aaron Pomerantz's fingertip –– gently fluttering its elegant transparent wings –– it's hard to believe that the world flipped upside down during the making of our upcoming Deep Look episode featuring these elegant insects.

A Ph.D candidate in the Nipam Patel Lab at University of California, Berkeley, Aaron had invited Deep Look to film these butterflies in the lab. He first became enamored of them years ago during his frequent trips studying the biodiversity of the rainforest in  Tambopata, Peru. 

And he's a longtime fan of the series –– which had an important impact on his career, too. 

“One of your previous Deep Look episodes is actually a big part of the reason that I'm here [at the UC Berkeley],” Aaron said. 

“Years ago I saw the episode about a blue morpho butterfly and how it made its structural blue color. I was just like, 'That's just cool science!' I saw it was featuring scientists that work at UC Berkeley, and that was around the time I was looking at applying to graduate programs.” 

The COVID-19 pandemic struck just as they were gearing up to start filming; due to the shelter-in-place restrictions, Deep Look lead producer and cinematographer Josh Cassidy had to cancel his shoot days at the lab.

But Aaron is also an accomplished wildlife photographer who owns the same camera and macro lenses that Deep Look uses to film its episodes. With a little bit of video coaching from Josh –– and a great deal of his own knowledge of butterflies –– Aaron was able to film most of the episode himself.

Aaron did such a great job filming –– it’s very hard to tell that the footage was filmed under such tight restrictions.

You can learn more when this episode premieres on Tuesday, June 2. Our Patreon supporters will get an early look this Friday, May 29!

Image Credits: Aaron Pomerantz