Falcon Dam Area, 6/4/15

Honey had the day off and we had not been up to Falcon in a while so we headed up to see what all the spring rain had produced.  The numbers of flowers were a bit disappointing though the garden at Falcon Dam State Park was pretty good.  Lots of composites along the Salineno dump road but no butterflies. Barry Nall's garden in Falcon Heights had some stuff as usual including this striking Ornythion Swallowtail.

And this really fat Two-barred Flasher.

At Falcon State Park, the little picnic area beyond the butterfly garden had a few blooming crucita which attracted this nice Ruby-spotted Swallowtail.

Mike Rickard had seen Coyote Cloudywing lately at Yturria Brush so I expected to see a few at Falcon State Park.  This one looks to have the short tail of a Jalapus Cloudywing but when viewed from a different angle the tail disappears.

The butterfly garden in the park had some stuff blooming but not a lot in the way of butterflies.  Here's a Zilpa Longtail.

Also seen were Black, Pipevine and Western Giant Swallowtails making it a five swallowtail day.

Keep the kids away from this explicit shot of a Bordered Patch having fun with a Theona Checkerspot.

Here's the list for the day.

• Pipevine Swallowtail 2
• Black Swallowtail 3
• Giant Swallowtail 2
• Ornythion Swallowtail 1
• Ruby-spotted Swallowtail 1
• Great Southern White 2
• Southern Dogface 1
• Cloudless Sulphur 2
• Large Orange Sulphur 3
• Lyside Sulphur 5
• Little Yellow 2
• Dainty Sulphur 1
• Gray Hairstreak 3
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 6
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 1
• Reakirt's Blue 2
• Gulf Fritillary 1
• Theona Checkerspot 1
• Bordered Patch 8
• Elada Crescent 10
• Phaon Crescent 5
• Hackberry Emperor 1
• Tawny Emperor 3
• Carolina Satyr 2
• Queen 5
• Zilpa Longtail 1
• Dorantes Longtail 1
• Two-barred Flasher 2
• Coyote Cloudywing 7
• Sickle-winged Skipper 5
• White Checkered-Skipper 3
• Laviana White-Skipper 1
• Clouded Skipper 4
• Whirlabout 1