Resaca de la Palma State Park, 10/28/15

This morning I ran over to Resaca de la Palma State Park north of Brownsville to do some more scouting for a trip I'm leading for the Texas Butterfly Festival.  I didn't get all the specialties for the site but it was a good day.  Everyone seems to be seeing Evan's Skippers this fall and I finally got one that Jim Snyder found.

A real surprise was at least four Violet-banded Skippers, My first for Cameron County.

Butterfly watchers go to Resaca hoping for Blue Metalmarks and they were out in force today.  A Walker's Metalmark was also seen but I missed it.

Another specialty for the park is Boisduval's Yellow.  I only saw one but it was very cooperative.

Two Orange-barred Sulphurs were nice.

Mexican Bluewings were common on the Ebony Trail but I failed to find the other park specialty, Band-celled Sister.

Silver-banded Hairstreak is always a treat.

A faded female Julia Heliconian was also on the Ebony Trail.

And one last area specialty, Mimosa Skipper.

• Giant Swallowtail 3
• Southern Dogface 3
• Cloudless Sulphur 25
• Orange-barred Sulphur 2
• Large Orange Sulphur 5
• Lyside Sulphur 10
• Boisduval's Yellow 1
• Tailed Orange 1
• Little Yellow 1
• Silver-banded Hairstreak 1
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 1
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 3
• Western Pygmy-Blue 1
• Rounded Metalmark 5
• Blue Metalmark 15
• Walker's Metalmark 1
• American Snout 3
• Gulf Fritillary 1
• Julia Heliconian 1
• Bordered Patch 1
• Red Admiral 2
• Common Buckeye 1
• White Peacock 3
• Mexican Bluewing 12
• Tawny Emperor 5
• Carolina Satyr 1
• Queen 5
• Dorantes Longtail 1
• Brown Longtail 4
• Mimosa Skipper 4
• Mazans Scallopwing 3
• Sickle-winged Skipper 20
• Brown-banded Skipper 1
• Funereal Duskywing 1
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 4
• Laviana White-Skipper 3
• Fawn-spotted Skipper 1
• Clouded Skipper 1
• Fiery Skipper 20
• Whirlabout 6
• Southern Broken-Dash 10
• Sachem 3
• Common Mellana 2
• Eufala Skipper 4
• Obscure Skipper 1
• Ocola Skipper 6
• Purple-washed Skipper 1
• Evans' Skipper 1
• Violet-banded Skipper 4

National Butterfly Center, 10/27/15

I arrived at the National Butterfly Center at about 11 AM and there was Buck and Linda Cooper from Florida so that means it Texas Butterfly Festival time.  So good to see them.  And so good to see this one too, right out in front.

Marianna led us to the back 70 acres where I'll be leading a trip for the Festival.  There was tons of blooming crucita along the river.  This big beautiful rare Ornythion Swallowtail paid us a brief visit and was then gone.

And for the past few years even more rare than Ornythion, this Polydamas Swallowtail was a nice surprise.

 A couple of Silver-banded Hairstreaks were in the balloon vine.

Tailed Orange is a south Texas specialty that has exploded in numbers in recent days.

Otherwise it was mostly a bunch of grass skippers including a Purple-washed.  After lunch I went back up to the front gardens looking for the Glazed Pellicia and Evan's Skippers that had been seen during the morning when I got word of a Tropical Parula back in the lower garden.  Got it!

• Pipevine Swallowtail 6
• Polydamas Swallowtail 1
• Giant Swallowtail 3
• Ornythion Swallowtail 1
• Southern Dogface 4
• Cloudless Sulphur x
• Large Orange Sulphur x
• Lyside Sulphur 6
• Tailed Orange 5
• Little Yellow 1
• Mimosa Yellow 3
• Dainty Sulphur 1
• Silver-banded Hairstreak 2
• Gray Hairstreak 2
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 1
• Ceraunus Blue 2
• Red-bordered Pixie 1
• American Snout 2
• Gulf Fritillary 2
• Variegated Fritillary 1
• Bordered Patch 2
• Painted Lady 2
• Red Admiral 2
• White Peacock 1
• Tawny Emperor 20
• Monarch 6
• Queen 300
• Soldier 4
• White-striped Longtail 1
• Long-tailed Skipper 1
• Brown Longtail 3
• Glazed Pellicia 1
• Funereal Duskywing 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 4
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 2
• Laviana White-Skipper 6
• Turk's-cap White-Skipper 1
• Fawn-spotted Skipper 1
• Clouded Skipper 8
• Fiery Skipper x
• Whirlabout x
• Southern Broken-Dash x
• Sachem 2
• Common Mellana 3
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 1
• Eufala Skipper 4
• Ocola Skipper 6
• Purple-washed Skipper 1

National Butterfly Center, 10/15/15

This morning I ran over to the National Butterfly Center to see what the recent rains had brung.  Mike Rickard and Ginny Musgrave showed up as I had half expected and Mike proceeded to find this beat up Hackberry Emperor.  We only see a few each year at the NBC.

Chris Tenney was in the gardens in back of the visitor's center.  He's been all over the country working on his big year in which he attempting to see 600 species of butterflies.  Chris told us he's at 501 which is pretty amazing.  He found this Violet-Banded Skipper shortly before I arrived.

There was nothing really rare today but lots of stuff I had not seen for a while like my first Purple-washed Skipper for the year.

Long-tailed Skippers have been hard to come by this year.

An extremely worn Zilpa Longtail.

And a Dorantes Longtail.

Turk's-cap White-Skipper was right in the mallows where I usually get one but it's been a while.

A really pretty Large Orange Sulphur.

  And a smokin' White Peacock.

• Pipevine Swallowtail 6
• Giant Swallowtail 3
• Southern Dogface 6
• Large Orange Sulphur 15
• Lyside Sulphur 8
• Mimosa Yellow 2
• Sleepy Orange 1
• Gray Hairstreak 3
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 3
• Western Pygmy-Blue 3
• Cassius Blue 2
• Ceraunus Blue 1
• American Snout 5
• Gulf Fritillary 1
• Bordered Patch 4
• Phaon Crescent 4
• Painted Lady 1
• Red Admiral 1
• Common Buckeye 4
• White Peacock 2
• Hackberry Emperor 1
• Tawny Emperor 60
• Monarch 4
• Queen 2
• Soldier 200
• Zilpa Longtail 1
• Long-tailed Skipper 1
• Dorantes Longtail 1
• Brown Longtail 5
• Funereal Duskywing 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 1
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 4
• Laviana White-Skipper 6
• Turk's-cap White-Skipper 1
• Julia's Skipper 1
• Fawn-spotted Skipper 1
• Clouded Skipper 3
• Whirlabout 5
• Southern Broken-Dash 6
• Sachem 2
• Common Mellana 2
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 3
• Eufala Skipper 1
• Ocola Skipper 3
• Purple-washed Skipper 1
• Violet-banded Skipper 1

Cameron County, 10-14-15

Yesterday I ran over to Cameron County to scout for a field trip for the Texas Butterfly Festival.  Cameron County has a half dozen species that are really difficult to find in Hidalgo County where the National Butterfly Center is located.  My first stop was Palo Alto National Battlefield which is home to a population of Definite Patch.  I didn't find any so I had to settle for this magnificent Blue Metalmark.

Saw an Ocola Skipper and a nice Sachem.

And an inquisitive Long-tailed Weasel.

Next stop was Sabal Palm Sanctuary where I could not find Double-dotted Skipper which is not a surprise as it is more of a spring bug.  Infact there were only a few skippers and not much in bloom.  This female Rufous Hummingbird was the highlight.

Finally I ran out to the TX 4 Smiley Face to look the "big four".  First was an Obscure Skipper.

Pale-rayed Skipper was not too difficult either.

But I could not dig out Xami Hairstreak or Saltbush Sootywing, so I only scored 50% on the Cameron County Specialties (not counting the Resaca de la Palma specialties).  Guess I need to scout some more.

Falcon State Park, 10/4/15

Honey and I took advantage of a pretty fall day to run up to Falcon State Park to check out the gardens. There were lots of butterflies but not much variety.  This Brazilian Skipper seemed out of place.  Usually I associate them with urban gardens.

Southern Dogfaces have become common lately.  If you keep shooting sometimes good things happen.

I checked several Ocola Skippers hoping for Hecebolus.  The spots say Ocola.

Falcon is the best place in the RGV to find Theona Checkerspots and Coyote Cloudywings.

• Pipevine Swallowtail 3
• Southern Dogface 20
• Large Orange Sulphur 200
• Lyside Sulphur 150
• Little Yellow 1
• Sleepy Orange 2
• Silver-banded Hairstreak 1
• Gray Hairstreak 20
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 2
• Ceraunus Blue 20
• Reakirt's Blue 15
• Fatal Metalmark 1
• American Snout 50
• Gulf Fritillary 1
• Theona Checkerspot 6
• Common Buckeye 1
• Tropical Leafwing 2
• Empress Leilia 1
• Queen 1
• Coyote Cloudywing 6
• Sickle-winged Skipper 1
• Funereal Duskywing 3
• Laviana White-Skipper 1
• Fiery Skipper 4
• Eufala Skipper 1
• Brazilian Skipper 1
• Ocola Skipper 4