National Butterfly Center, 10/2/14

With an approaching cold front and a strong SE wind, I thought today might be a good one at the National Butterfly Center.  Turns out I was wrong and numbers were down about half from three days earlier.  Mosquito numbers were way down too.  I bet there's a relationship here somewhere.  Best bug goes to this Lantana Scrub-Hairstreak.  Later I ran into John Rosford who told me he had one in his yard also.

One of my first butterflies of the day was this Sickle-winged Skipper which seemed out of place in front of the visitor's center.  Usually they prefer the woods.

Here's a very colorful Fatal Metalmark.  At least that's what I guess it is.

When I got home I was surprised to find yet another Lantana Scrub-Hairstreak. 

Last night we had this huge moth on our carport.  Though I don't remember ever seeing one it turns out to be a common species, the Rustic Sphynx Moth.

Here's today's list of 35 species from the NBC.

• Pipevine Swallowtail 1
• Southern Dogface 6
• Large Orange Sulphur 2
• Lyside Sulphur 2
• Little Yellow 5
• Silver-banded Hairstreak 1
• Gray Hairstreak 3
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 1
• Lantana Scrub-Hairstreak 1
• Western Pygmy-Blue 5
• Ceraunus Blue 12
• Fatal Metalmark 4
• American Snout 60
• Gulf Fritillary 2
• Zebra Heliconian 3
• Phaon Crescent 15
• White Peacock 2
• Tropical Leafwing 3
• Tawny Emperor 110
• Monarch 3
• Queen 100
• Soldier 1
• Sickle-winged Skipper 1
• Mournful Duskywing 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 15
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 8
• Laviana White-Skipper 8
• Common Sootywing 1
• Julia's Skipper 2
• Clouded Skipper 6
• Fiery Skipper 25
• Southern Broken-Dash 6
• Common Mellana 2
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 3
• Eufala Skipper 4