Warm, windy day at National Butterfly Center, 12/13/12

A cold front is scheduled to roll in tomorrow morning so I figured warm southerly winds ahead of the front might bring some stuff in.  As expected it was a good day at the National Butterfly Center though all of the butterflies seen were also reported yesterday.  Best of the day was this Blomfild's Beauty.  It's been a few years since I've seen one.

This Guatemalan Cracker has been around for a few days.

It's been a while since I've seen a Marius Hairstreak. 

A few days ago eight Malachites were reported but I saw only one today.

This ratty Florida White is the first I've seen this fall.

Curve-winged Metalmarks are being seen daily at the NBC and there's plenty of Mexican Caesalpinia so maybe they will start breeding.

I guess this is an aberrant Fatal Metalmark.

After the front blows though there is supposted to be some sun so Maybe I can find something good in the yard.

Pale-spotted Leafwing at Progreso Lakes, 12/4/22

I was away most of the day and didn't get home till after 3:30.  It was mostly cloudy and I didn't expect to see much as I made rounds of the yard.  But some sun popped out and made for a very good hour of butterflies.  First thing I saw was the continuing (or a different) Mexican Silverspot.  It was clinging to the flame vine exposed to the southerly winds.

Then there was the usual as of late Boisduval's Yellow.

Then I checked the bait station.  I could see a leafwing..... with a dark medial arch on the forewing and what looked like back lit spots!  Wow!  Pale-spotted Leafwing!  Yard butterfly species #148 and one I thought I might have to wait a while for.

On the otherside a big chunk of missing hind wing expose a dark reddish brown upper surface of a female.  Not the blue I was hoping for but maybe she found some of our Crotons and laid a few eggs.

   

Finally a small silvery hairstreak proved to be a Red-crescent Scrub-Hairstreak.  I tried to turn it into a Red-lined but I don't think so.

Warm, humid, windy weather is in the forecast so stay tuned.

Our Bait Station at Progreso Lakes, 11/22

Through the years I have not been happy with our bait station at Progreso Lakes.  I make butterfly brew and put it on a branch of the Mexican Olive.  It works pretty well, but squirrels and chachalacas eat it as soon as they find it and you can forget about it lasting over night.  I also put out fruit rinds and rotting fruit and it attracts stuff but raccons eat it up during their nocturnal forays.  What to do?

I discovered that oranges and fruit put in a suet cake cage for birds attract butterflies after a while.  I was in my barn looking for another suet cake cage when I noticed a crowdad trap I had bough several years ago.  That got the wheels turning.  Could I use that for a bait station.  I found a way to hang it in the Mexican Olive and filled it with rinds and rotting fruit and presto!  So far it has attracted Tawny Emperors, Question Marks, Red Admirals, Tropical and Goatweed Leafwings and South Texas Satyrs.

 

Now I need the good ones which I will not mention.  Do not say their names.

White Scrub-Hairstreak at Progreso Lakes, 12/2/22

Despite a week long cold spell it's been a pretty good fall butterfly season in the Rio Grande Valley.  Visiting Linda Cooper topped 120 species for November including the rare Dusted Spurwing at the National Butterfly Center.  Here at Progreso Lakes things have been a little more subdued.  We finally had a good south wind ahead of a cold front that brought several Mexican Yellows.

And a Giant White,

These two species along with Florida White often seem to be a harbinger of good butterflies from Mexico.  But it got cool again and nothing else showed up till today.  It was foggy, humid and mostly cloudy so I wasn't expecting much.  It was nice to get a Boisduval's Yellow.  It's been around for a couple of days.

The recent cold front also brought in a few birds.  So I was sitting on the back porch this afternoon watching a flock of mostly Yellow-rumped Warblers when a funky little hairstreak landed on the Tunera ulmifolia.  I fired a quick shot at a strongly patterned hairstreak.

I was hoping it was something good and then it flew.  I was up and after it before I got to look at the photo.  Then it landed on the Mexican Coral Bean.  I fired a few more shots and then thought "Gee. what if it's only a winter Clytie Ministreak?"  So I looked at the back of the camera and saw black eyes and realized I had the first White Scrub-Hairstreak for our yard, butterfly #147.

Last Monday I visited the National Butterfly Center and got to see several of my old butterflying friends who were visiting for the Texas Butterfly Festival and Thanksgiving..  We didn't see a whole lot but it was fun to visit.  Before I left I though I would make a final round of the baitlogs.  Along the way a butterfly landed and looked black and white striped.  It looked exactly like the Whitened Blueings I have seen in the past in Panama.

My was was racing as this would be a first US record.  But it repositioned itself and morphed into the expected Mexican Bluewing.  I was not surprised.

Warm weather is forecast for the next week.  I bet some good shows.

Teniente Tract of Lower Rio Grande NWR, 10/21/22

This afternoon I ran up to the Teniente Tract of the Lower Rio Grande Valley NWR  to do a little scouting for the upcoming Texas Butterfly Festival.  It's pretty dry up there with absolutely no crucita or lantana blooming.  But they had enough rain so that the silver croton and some little yellow composite were common though getting a little dry.  I did much better than expected getting all the specialties for the area.  I found two Red-crescent Scrub Hairstreaks on CR30 and then ten more on CR20 without looking very hard.

Six Erichson's White-Skippers were an all time high for me.

Saw at least three of the recently split Twintip Buckeyes.

The other expected specialty for the area is Desert Checkered-Skipper.  I saw 8 to 10 of them.

There were equal numbers of White Checkered-Skippers,

And even a Tropical Checkere-Skipper to complete the trifecta.

Turk's-Cap White-Skipper is another specialty of the area.

Earlier in the day I found the first Zebra Heliconian of the fall in our yard at Progreso Lakes.

The list of 32 species is by far the most I've ever seen up there.  It's drying up quickly so I hope they can hold on for the Festival.

Pipevine Swallowtail 1

• Giant Swallowtail 2
• Southern Dogface 10
• Cloudless Sulphur 2
• Little Yellow 2
• Dainty Sulphur 5
• Gray Hairstreak 3
• Red-crescent Scrub-Hairstreak 12
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 5
• Western Pygmy-Blue 50
• Ceraunus Blue 5
• Fatal Metalmark 1
• American Snout 8
• Gulf Fritillary 4
• Variegated Fritillary 1
• Phaon Crescent 5
• Common Buckeye 1
• Tropical Buckeye 1
• White Peacock 1
• Common Mestra 1
• Queen 8
• Dorantes Longtail 1
• Brown Longtail 1
• Sickle-winged Skipper 2
• White Checkered-Skipper 8
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 1
• Desert Checkered-Skipper 8
• Erichson's White-Skipper 6
• Turk's-cap White-Skipper 2
• Julia's Skipper 2
• Whirlabout 2
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 1
• Eufala Skipper 5

Good south wind at Progreso Lakes, 10/16/22

Our first cold front of the fall is due tomorrow and that usually sucks up warm wind from the south before it arrives.  So I made a conscious effort to run up a butterfly list for our Progreso Lakes yard today.  Our yard is also blooming nicely and combined with the southerly wind my expectations were high.  As it turned out, there were a lot of butterflies but not anything unusual.  I think it may take a few more fronts and a few more days of southerly wind to bring up the good stuff.

Butterfly of the day goes to a couple of Fawn-spotted Skippers.  Formerly common in our yard, this species was wiped out by last year's February freeze.  These are the first I've seen since then though they are still present in the Brownsville area.

Mimosa Skippers are a specialty of the mid and lower RGV.  They use the thorny pink flowered   

mimosas that line the ditches and resacas to as a host plant.  Today I had five which is pretty unusal.

The wind brought a Mazan's Scallopwing to the yard.  We only get one or two per year.

White-patched Skippers are finally showing after a long absense.

Dorantes Longtails have also just arrived.  It seems many butterflies time their reproduction to coincide with the fall flower season.

Soldiers have recently marched into the yard for the fall.

Here's today's list of 51 species.

• Pipevine Swallowtail 1
• Giant Swallowtail 5
• Cloudless Sulphur 8
• Large Orange Sulphur 4
• Lyside Sulphur 2
• Little Yellow 10
• Mimosa Yellow 2
• Gray Hairstreak 1
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 3
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 2
• Clytie Ministreak 1
• Western Pygmy-Blue 5
• Ceraunus Blue 6
• Rounded Metalmark 6
• Red-bordered Metalmark 10
• American Snout 200
• Gulf Fritillary 5
• Bordered Patch 10
• Pearl Crescent   1
• Vesta Crescent 5
• Phaon Crescent 5
• Painted Lady 1
• Red Admiral 1
• White Peacock 15
• Tawny Emperor 8
• Queen 50
• Soldier 5
• White-striped Longtail 3
• Dorantes Longtail 1
• Brown Longtail 8
• Mimosa Skipper 5
• Mazans Scallopwing 1
• Sickle-winged Skipper 60
• White-patched Skipper 1
• Mournful Duskywing 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 6
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 8
• Laviana White-Skipper 12
• Turk's-cap White-Skipper 1
• Common Sootywing 2
• Julia's Skipper 3
• Fawn-spotted Skipper 2
• Clouded Skipper 50
• Double-dotted Skipper 4
• Southern Skipperling 3
• Fiery Skipper 6
• Whirlabout 6
• Southern Broken-Dash 10
• Common Mellana 10
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 6
• Eufala Skipper 8

First Horace's Duskywing at Progreso Lakes, 10/8/22

Well, I haven't posted in a while.  So as fall butterfly season approaches I guess I had better get with it.  We've had northerly to northeasterly winds for the past couple of weeks, starting with Hurricane Ian so I've been hoping we might get something different in our yard.  Today it finally happened.  This female Horace's Duskywing is the 146th species to be seen in our yard.  Though I've seen very few of these through the years, the instant I saw it with the tawny color and bold markings, I was pretty sure it was a Horace's.  It also has a remnant of the brown edging on the hind wings.

Crucita, Betony and Wire Weed are all blooming so there were plenty of butterflies today.  Hoping winds shift to the south to bring in the Mexican stuff.  Here's today's list of 34 species.

Giant Swallowtail 1

• Cloudless Sulphur 8
• Large Orange Sulphur 4
• Lyside Sulphur 2
• Little Yellow 2
• Gray Hairstreak 1
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 1
• Ceraunus Blue 3
• Rounded Metalmark 3
• American Snout 3
• Gulf Fritillary 3
• Bordered Patch 2
• Vesta Crescent 1
• White Peacock 2
• Tawny Emperor 2
• Carolina Satyr 1
• Queen 10
• White-striped Longtail 2
• Brown Longtail 3
• Mimosa Skipper 2
• Sickle-winged Skipper 10
• White-patched Skipper 1
• Horace's Duskywing 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 1
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 6
• Laviana White-Skipper 12
• Julia's Skipper 3
• Clouded Skipper 100
• Double-dotted Skipper 1
• Fiery Skipper 2
• Whirlabout 5
• Southern Broken-Dash 5
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 5
• Eufala Skipper 5