Progreso Lakes, 3/12/18

This afternoon I was working in the butterfly garden in our yard at Progreso Lakes when a sharp Julia's Heliconian came cruising by.  It told me to put down the shovel and pick up the camera.

Then I saw a little brown spreadwing skipper....Mazan's Scallopwing!  This is a butterfly that likes shady brushy areas and I thought it might be a while before we add this one to our yard list.  But there it was, butterfly #106.

Then there was this guy.  I thought it was just a Celia's Roadside-Skipper in a nice pose.  But looking at Glassberg, it has a lot of the field marks of Bell's Roadside-Skipper from NE Texas.  We will see what people think.

Here's a Turk's-cap White-Skipper.

When we bought this place fifteen months ago I never dreamed that Double-dotted Skipper would be a regular in our yard.  I love 'em.

Here's a very bright female Sachem.

And a Southern Broken-Dash.

This White-striped Longtail was all over our acre yard.

A couple of hours later the day's list stood at 34 species.  Pretty good.

• Pipevine Swallowtail 1
• Giant Swallowtail 2
• Checkered White 1
• Orange Sulphur 1
• Lyside Sulphur 1
• Gray Hairstreak 1
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 1
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 6
• Reakirt's Blue 1
• American Snout 1
• Julia Heliconian 1
• Bordered Patch 2
• Texan Crescent 1
• Phaon Crescent 2
• Pearl Crescent 1
• Red Admiral 1
• Carolina Satyr 15
• Monarch 1
• White-striped Longtail 1
• Brown Longtail 4
• Mazans Scallopwing 1
• Funereal Duskywing 3
• White Checkered-Skipper 3
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper20
• Turk's-cap White-Skipper 1
• Julia's Skipper 3
• Fawn-spotted Skipper 1
• Clouded Skipper 4
• Double-dotted Skipper 2
• Whirlabout 1
• Southern Broken-Dash 2
• Sachem 2
• Bell's Roadside-Skipper 1
• Eufala Skipper 2

Mercurial Skipper at National Butterfly Center, 3/5/18

I ran over to the National Butterfly Center this morning hoping that the Mercurial Skipper found yesterday might still be around.  It was and what a magnificent butterfly!  I have chased a number of these and was happy to finally get this off of my nemesis butterfly list.  Valley butterfly #211.

Also good for the day were two Hammock Skippers.  

There have been a few Chestnut Crescents around lately.  This female was just barely hanging on.

Used to be you could only find Double-dotted Skippers at Sabal Palm Sanctuary in Cameron County but they seem to be pretty regular at the NBC now.

48 species today!

• Pipevine Swallowtail 4
• Black Swallowtail 1
• Giant Swallowtail 2
• Checkered White 4
• Large Orange Sulphur 2
• Lyside Sulphur 5
• Little Yellow 5
• Gray Hairstreak 5
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 2
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 8
• Reakirt's Blue 1
• American Snout 1
• Gulf Fritillary 5
• Variegated Fritillary 1
• Bordered Patch 4
• Texan Crescent 15
• Chestnut Crescent 1
• Vesta Crescent 3
• Phaon Crescent 40
• American Lady 1
• Red Admiral 3
• White Peacock 1
• Common Mestra 1
• Tropical Leafwing 1
• Empress Leilia 1
• Carolina Satyr 6
• Monarch 1
• Queen 15
• Hammock Skipper 2
• Mercurial Skipper  1
• White-striped Longtail 1
• Brown Longtail 8
• Coyote Cloudywing 1
• Texas Powdered-Skipper 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 8
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper25
• Laviana White-Skipper 2
• Fawn-spotted Skipper 2
• Clouded Skipper 20
• Southern Skipperling 3
• Fiery Skipper 20
• Whirlabout 4
• Southern Broken-Dash 2
• Sachem 3
• Common Mellana 3
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 4
• Eufala Skipper 2