Four-spotted Sailor at National Butterfly Center, 11/18/18

I was going to spend my morning in the yard today, but word came out of a Smudged Hairstreak at the National Butterfly Center.  So I raced over only to find the butterfly was gone.  And there was discussion it may have been a Marius Hairstreak anyway.  But then the Four-spotted Sailor found several days ago was refound.  And it was a male which I had never seen before so my trip was worthwhile.  Love that metallic teal!

Didn't see anything else noteworthy.  Here's a sharp Mexican Fritillary and a Mex Frit chrysalis.

And the hard-not-to-photograph Gulf Fritillary.

Don't know why but there were lots of White Checkered-Skippers around.

It's been a good fall for Theona Checkerspots.

I liked these Whirlabout photos.

So it was nice afternoon and I got so see all my butterfly friends who visit this time of year.

Progreso Lakes, 11/1/18

This morning a strong cool front blew through our Progreso Lakes yard and after the sun popped out the butterflies went wild.  Finally after two years I was able to add Mexican Bluwing to our yard list.  This ovipositing female was butterfly #109.

A few minutes later I was trying to photo graph a Julia's Skipper when the big bright orange thing flew in.  Ruddy Daggerwing was butterfly #110 for our yard.  It was not far from our little blooming brush holly.  The insignificant flowers of this spiny bush really attract the daggerwings at the National Butterfly Center.  Maybe they drew in this one.

And then my first Mexican Yellow for the year fluttered around the red salvia.

 A couple of Orange-barred Sulphurs were the first I've seen in a while.

Two Long-tailed Skippers show the variability in this species.

Dorantes Longtail.

Finished up the day with 44 species.

Pipevine Swallowtail 2

• Giant Swallowtail 1
• Cloudless Sulphur 10
• Orange-barred Sulphur 2
• Large Orange Sulphur 5
• Lyside Sulphur 3
• Mexican Yellow 1
• Little Yellow 3
• Gray Hairstreak 2
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 2
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 1
• Ceraunus Blue 1
• Rounded Metalmark 3
• Red-bordered Metalmark 6
• American Snout 3
• Gulf Fritillary 2
• Bordered Patch 5
• Vesta Crescent 2
• Phaon Crescent 8
• White Peacock 15
• Mexican Bluewing 1
• Ruddy Daggerwing 1
• Tawny Emperor 8
• Carolina Satyr 5
• Monarch 1
• Queen 80
• Soldier 10
• Long-tailed Skipper 2
• Dorantes Longtail 1
• Brown Longtail 12
• Sickle-winged Skipper 6
• Funereal Duskywing 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 3
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper12
• Laviana White-Skipper 3
• Julia's Skipper 1
• Fawn-spotted Skipper 8
• Clouded Skipper 25
• Southern Skipperling 1
• Fiery Skipper 1
• Whirlabout 2
• Southern Broken-Dash 3
• Common Mellana 2
• Eufala Skipper 2