Santa Ana NWR, 6/27/16

I ran over to Santa Ana NWR this morning to check out the birds.  They turned out to be pretty non-noteworthy but the butterflies were smokin'.  Along the sidewalk past the old manager's residence area was this sharp Blue-eyed Sailor feeding on scat.  I think it's my new favorite butterfly.

Along the Willow Lakes Trail the frog fruit was blooming and loaded with butterflies.  Best was this rare East-Mexican White-Skipper.  Several have been seen this summer.

Nearby was a Turk's-cap White-Skipper.

Three Banded Peacocks were noteworthy.

Dozens of White Peacocks nectared on the frog fruit.

As did this Mimosa Skipper.  They were out in force today.

A sharp Gray-Hairstreak.

Turquoise antenna knobs a blazing, if Great Southern Whites could talk they would sound like Foghorn Leghorn.

Twenty five Pale-banded Crescents were my most ever for one day.

It's hard for this Rounded Metalmark to hide behind this frog fruit flower.

Well, while most of the butterflies were enjoying frog fruit, this White-striped Longtail exhibited a more exotic palate.  I guess it's an acquired taste.

First butterfly of the day was this poor Ruddy Daggerwing.

• Giant Swallowtail 5
• Great Southern White 5
• Large Orange Sulphur 15
• Lyside Sulphur 2
• Little Yellow 3
• Gray Hairstreak 1
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 1
• Clytie Ministreak 1
• Ceraunus Blue 3
• Rounded Metalmark 5
• Red-bordered Pixie 1
• American Snout 5000
• Gulf Fritillary 3
• Zebra Heliconian 3
• Bordered Patch 100
• Crimson Patch 5
• Elada Crescent 1
• Texan Crescent 5
• Pale-banded Crescent 25
• Phaon Crescent 15
• White Peacock 70
• Banded Peacock 3
• Mexican Bluewing 3
• Blue-eyed Sailor 1
• Common Mestra 50
• Ruddy Daggerwing 1
• Tawny Emperor 3
• Carolina Satyr 1
• Queen 4
• White-striped Longtail 2
• Brown Longtail 10
• Mimosa Skipper 10
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper10
• Laviana White-Skipper 50
• Turk's-cap White-Skipper 4
• Julia's Skipper 1
• Fawn-spotted Skipper 3
• Clouded Skipper 8
• Whirlabout 3
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 2
• Eufala Skipper 1
• East Mexican White-Skipper 1

Mo-Vac Road to Sal delRey, 6/13/15

I was birding up by Hargill this morning so I thought I would check out the Mo-Vac Road that leads from Brushline Road about three miles north of TX 186 and goes into The Sal del Rey unit of the Lower Rio Grande Valley NWR.  This has been a good place in the past for Red-crescent Scrub-Hairstreak and white-skippers.  Walking in I noticed lots of globemallow which is the host plant for the Red-crescents.

I found six of them.

There were lots of Desert Checkered-Skippers.  Some people say they fold their wing up more than the other checkered-skippers but it may be that they are out in the heat of the day in a place that gets very warm.

The only white-skippers I saw were Laviana and Turk's-cap.  Here's a list.

• Giant Swallowtail 3
• Southern Dogface 6
• Large Orange Sulphur 2
• Lyside Sulphur 3
• Little Yellow 5
• Dainty Sulphur 20
• Red-crescent Scrub-Hairstreak6
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 2
• Lantana Scrub-Hairstreak 1
• Cassius Blue 1
• Ceraunus Blue 2
• Reakirt's Blue 3
• Fatal Metalmark 2
• American Snout 10
• Gulf Fritillary 1
• Theona Checkerspot 2
• Common Buckeye 2
• Mexican Bluewing 1
• Common Mestra 5
• Monarch 1
• Sickle-winged Skipper 3
• White Checkered-Skipper 1
• Desert Checkered-Skipper 15
• Laviana White-Skipper 1
• Turk's-cap White-Skipper 2
• Eufala Skipper 2

Dark Kite-Swallowtail at Old Hidalgo Pumphouse, 6/5/16

It was another trip to Santa Ana NWR this morning to look for the Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher.  I gave up after four hours and went home for lunch.  After eating I was thinking about a nap when I got the call from Bill Supulski that Tripp Davenport had just found a Dark Kite-Swallowtail at the Old Hidalgo Pumphouse. Someone sees one of these every few years down here but they only hang round a couple of minutes and then they're gone.   From our house it's 22 miles to the Pumphouse so I thought it was worth a shot.  I raced over and Tripp, Bill, Dot, Robin and Troy were still there and so was the swallowtail.  It only hung around a few minutes more but I was happy to get some shots as it nectared in a blooming fiddlewood.  I was excited and forgot to move my lense down to 300 mm from 400 so these photos are not the best.

Earlier in the morning after a couple of hours at the Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher vigil my birding discipline weakened and I wandered over to the butterfly garden on the other side of the visitors center.  One of the first butterflies I saw was a Hoary Skipper ovipositing on turk's-cap.  Joined by some of the other birders we soon found a couple more of them.

A blooming fiddlewood was really attracting the butterflies.  Over the next two hours I saw 35 species make a nectar stop.  Most made only a brief appearance this Ornythion Swallowtail

and two Giant Whites

and a Theona Checkerspot

and this Two-barred Flasher.

Mexican Bluewings don't show much interest in flower nectar.  They seem to prefer sap and ground salts.

A Guava Skipper checked out the blooming plumbago.

A couple of battling Great Southern Whites flew up over the roof of the visitors center.

Back at the fiddlewood were a couple more Hoary Skippers.

and my first Ocola Skipper for the year.

Here's my list from the butterfly gardens at Santa Ana NWR.

• Giant Swallowtail 1
• Ornythion Swallowtail 1
• Great Southern White 3
• Giant White 2
• Large Orange Sulphur 2
• Lyside Sulphur 2
• Mimosa Yellow 1
• Dainty Sulphur 1
• Gray Hairstreak 1
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 5
• Clytie Ministreak 1
• Reakirt's Blue 1
• Red-bordered Metalmark 3
• American Snout 50
• Gulf Fritillary 1
• Zebra Heliconian 2
• Theona Checkerspot 1
• Bordered Patch 2
• Crimson Patch 1
• Texan Crescent 4
• Pale-banded Crescent 4
• Vesta Crescent 1
• White Peacock 1
• Mexican Bluewing 3
• Tawny Emperor 2
• Carolina Satyr `
• Guava Skipper 1
• Zilpa Longtail 1
• Brown Longtail 4
• Two-barred Flasher 1
• Coyote Cloudywing 1
• Hoary Skipper 3
• White-patched Skipper 1
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 4
• Laviana White-Skipper 2
• Turk's-cap White-Skipper 2
• Fawn-spotted Skipper 4
• Clouded Skipper 2
• Fiery Skipper 1
• Whirlabout 1
• Southern Broken-Dash 8
• Nysa Roadside-Skipper 1
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 5
• Ocola Skipper 1