Rio Grande Valley Butterflies: July 2016

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

NABA Butterfly Count at Santa Ana NWR, 7/16/16

This past Saturday I was joined by Dick and Sherry Wilson and Chris Balboni at Santa Ana NWR for the NABA butterfly count. We had a very successful day finding 61 species including some pretty uncommon stuff. But Tipp Davenport found the best butterfly the next day, a Spot-celled Sister. The following afternoon I ran over and managed to find it in the brush west of the entrance kiosk as Tripp described. Four of these rare leps have been seen in the Valley this year and it was a lifer for me.

On the NABA count, this Erato Heliconian would normally drawn rave reviews but it was the fourth seen the year in the RGV and the fifth was seen the next day at Quinta Mazatlan.

There were six Ruddy Daggerwings and my first Many-banded Daggerwing of the year.

An amazing three species of green hairstreaks included Silver-banded Hairstreak, Tropical Greenstreak and this Telea Hairstreak.

I found the only Mimosa Skipper of the day way down on the tour road.

The morning started with this Gray Cracker in the butterfly garden.

Giant Swallowtail 3
Large Orange Sulphur 95
Lyside Sulphur 49
Tailed Orange 3
Little Yellow 10
Mimosa Yellow 21
Telea Hairstreak 1
Silver-banded Hairstreak 1
Tropical Greenstreak 1
Gray Hairstreak 6
Clytie Ministreak 5
Cassius Blue 2
Ceraunus Blue 3
Fatal Metalmark 8
Rounded Metalmark 24
Red-bordered Metalmark 27
American Snout 700
Gulf Fritillary 18
Julia Heliconian 2
Zebra Heliconian 4
Erato Heliconian 1
Variegated Fritillary 1
Bordered Patch 5
Crimson Patch 3
Texan Crescent 9
Pale-banded Crescent 22
Phaon Crescent 30
White Peacock 93
Banded Peacock 3
Band-celled Sister 1
Mexican Bluewing 20
Dingy Purplewing 1
Common Mestra 28
Gray Cracker 1
Many-banded Daggerwing 1
Ruddy Daggerwing 6
Tropical Leafwing 12
Tawny Emperor 100
Carolina Satyr 3
Queen 8
Soldier 1
White-striped Longtail 1
Brown Longtail 8
Mimosa Skipper 1
Glazed Pellicia 1
Mazans Scallopwing 2
Sickle-winged Skipper 34
Brown-banded Skipper 2
White Checkered-Skipper 3
Tropical Checkered-Skipper21
Laviana White-Skipper 36
East-Mexican White-Skipper 1
Turk's-cap White-Skipper 4
Fawn-spotted Skipper 1
Clouded Skipper 8
Southern Skipperling 1
Fiery Skipper 1
Whirlabout 4
Sachem 2
Common Mellana 9
Celia's Roadside-Skipper 10

Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Amazing day at Bentsen and NBC, 7/5/16

The past couple of days there been a lot of good butterflies seen between Bentsen Rio Grande Valley State Park and the National Butterfly Center. I finally made it over to Bentsen this morning hoping to see the Erato Heliconian and there was john Rosford. And he was filming two Erato Heliconians! I think it's the first time there has ever been more than one of these at a time here in the USA. Unfortunately I missed my photo opp.

The other thing I wanted to see was the Rosita Patch and I found it up high in the Wright's Catclaw. Valley lifer #201 for me.

Two Clench's Greenstreaks were reported yesterday and I thought I found one but it turned out to be a Telea Hairstreak.

And then I did find a greenstreak but I'm not sure if it's a Clench's or a Tropical Greenstreak. Hard to tell what the color is on the frons but it almost looks green which would be Tropical.

And then there were two magnificent Ruddy Daggerwings.

And plenty of Banded Peacocks, this one mourning the death of a Gulf Fritillary.

After an hour and a half I ran over to NBC and immediately found the Silver Emperor. They found theirs here the same day I found the one at Santa Ana.

There target here at the National Butterfly Center were an Amazon Darner dragonfly and more Rosita Patches. So I spent a couple of hours on the Hackberry Trail and in the Ditch. I ran into Mike Rickard and we soon found a Rosita Patch.

We could not find the Amazon Darner but were pleased with this Bronzed River Cruiser.

Two Gray Crackers were nice.

I have to include a Mexican Bluewing.

I failed to get a photo of the Band-celled Sister but did get the Glazed Pellicia.

Here are separate lists for Bentsen and NBC.

Giant Swallowtail 1
Cloudless Sulphur 1
Large Orange Sulphur 8
Lyside Sulphur 4
Telea Hairstreak 1
Clench's Greenstreak 1
Cassius Blue 1
American Snout 200
Gulf Fritillary 3
Erato Heliconian 2
Rosita Patch 2
Vesta Crescent 1
White Peacock 3
Banded Peacock 4
Mexican Bluewing 1
Common Mestra 2
Ruddy Daggerwing 2
Tropical Leafwing 1
Tawny Emperor 10
Queen 2
Brown Longtail 2
Glazed Pellicia 1
Sickle-winged Skipper 5
Brown-banded Skipper 1
Tropical Checkered-Skipper 2
Laviana White-Skipper 1

Giant Swallowtail 2
Large Orange Sulphur 10
Lyside Sulphur 3
Mimosa Yellow 1
Sleepy Orange 1
Dusky-blue Groundstreak 2
American Snout 500
Gulf Fritillary 1
Julia Heliconian 1
Zebra Heliconian 3
Crimson Patch 1
Rosita Patch 1
Texan Crescent 2
Pearl Crescent 1
White Peacock 5
Band-celled Sister 1
Mexican Bluewing 15
Common Mestra 3
Gray Cracker 2
Tropical Leafwing 6
Tawny Emperor 300
Silver Emperor 1
Queen 6
Soldier 1
Glazed Pellicia 1
Clouded Skipper 5

Sunday, July 3, 2016

Santa Ana, 7/3/16

The temperature was forecast to hit 100 today and all of next week so I figured I had better visit Santa Ana NWR before it fries. Despite the heat of the past week it still looks good but some things like frog fruit are starting to wither. Best butterflies once again goes to Blue-eyed Sailor. This one was hanging around a blooming coma (photographed on an elm) and a half hour later and fifty yards away I found the same one again or maybe another.

Saw my first Silver Emperors for this year. 1 and 3/4 of them.

Benton Basham found the nation's first East-Mexican White Skipper at Santa Ana back in 2004. Lately it's not such a big deal. Saw two today.

Four Banded Peacocks were nice. First photo is on P mode at about f 8 while the second is on A mode at f 20. The depth of field difference is noticeable but I really need a tripod when it's closed down. I don't know why the colors came out so different. The first is more accurate.