Salome Yellow at Progreso Lakes, 1/19/22

We had strong southerly wind all day yesterday and not much happened.  More wind was forecast for today so I had my hopes up but I wasn't seeing much as I made my rounds of the yard.  Just before lunch as I was walking the east side of our little brush patch for the umpteenth time, I looked up and there was Billy Weber.  Seems he and a friend had flown down for the Bat Falcon at Santa Ana so he dropped by to see if any good butterflies were around.  Well we looked a bit and didn't see much so I took a lunch break and then rejoined him.  As we approached my brush patch I saw a medium sized yellow butterfly land near the Diclptera.  I shouted "That's the butterfly I saw yesterday!"  We got a few shots and when I looked at the back of the camera I saw a tailed yellow butterfly with lots of spots on the underwings.  It wasn't a Boisduvals Yellow nor was it a Mexican Yellow.  The only thing I could come up with was Salome Yellow.  Checking photos on Butterflies of the Americas it seemed to match Eurema salome.  I sent photos to Dr. Jeffrey Glassberg and he concurs.  This rare Mexican stray is butterfly species #142 for our yard,

Just last week Ryan Rodriguez visited our yard while we were away and found our first yard Banded Peacock.  This long overdue species was butterfly #141 for our yard.  I'm afraid I never got to see it but I'm sure we'll get another some day.

Billy and I could never refind the Salome Yellow.  An icy cold front with rain and temperatures in the 30's is on tap for tomorrow so this may put an end to the amazing winter butterfly season we've enjoyed in the Rio Grande Valley.

Variegated Skipper at Progreso Lakes, 1/13/22

Butterflies have been absent at Progreso Lakes the past two cold cloudy days but today the sun popped out and warmed temps to the 70's and the butterflies were back.  A real surprise was this rare Variegated Skipper.  These tiny jewels rarely wander up from Mexico.  It was only my second for the United States and first for our yard, butterfly #139.

After being a rare visitor to our yard for the first five years, Zebra Heliconians have been present daily for the past couple of weeks.  We had four today.

We've also had multiple Giant Whites daily.  Here's three in one shot.  They really like the blooming Dicliptera.

I thought this was an Orange-barred Sulphur when I photographed it.  Then I noticed it lacked any dark orange above so I started hoping it was a first record Apricot Sulphur.  But alas, it was just a big rambunctious Large Oange Sulphur.

Second best butterfly today was our third ever Band-celled Sister.

Last week we got our second ever Marine Blue.  These are much more common farther west.

We also had another Mazans Scallopwing last week.

Here's today's list.

Giant Swallowtail 1

• Giant White 3
• Orange Sulphur 1
• Southern Dogface 1
• Cloudless Sulphur 5
• Large Orange Sulphur 5
• Mexican Yellow 1
• Little Yellow 3
• Gray Hairstreak 1
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 2
• Ceraunus Blue 1
• Reakirt's Blue 2
• Gulf Fritillary 8
• Zebra Heliconian 4
• Variegated Fritillary 1
• Texan Crescent 1
• Phaon Crescent 2
• Red Admiral 2
• White Peacock 2
• Band-celled Sister 1
• Monarch 1
• Queen 3
• Soldier 1
• White-striped Longtail 1
• Long-tailed Skipper 1
• Dorantes Longtail 1
• Brown Longtail 5
• Variegated Skipper 1
• Funereal Duskywing 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 6
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 20
• Laviana White-Skipper 3
• Julia's Skipper 1
• Clouded Skipper 10
• Double-dotted Skipper 1
• Southern Skipperling 1
• Fiery Skipper 1
• Sachem 1
• Common Mellana 1
• Eufala Skipper 5

Happy New Year from Progreso Lakes, 1/1/22

I looked out the window this New Years morning at 7:30 and the first butterfly I saw for 2022 was a Monarch.  I felt that might be a good omen.   And along with today's weather predicted to be very warm and breezy, that was enough to make me decide to stay in our Progreso Lakes yard today and run up a list.  Most interesting butterfly of the day was this Panoquina which seems to be a rare Hecebolus Skipper.  It has the forewing spot anterior to the big spot, it's rather golden colored, and lacks the row of hind wing spots and jutting fore wing of Purple-washed.  As such it is yard butterfly #138.

Then we had our second ever Curve-winged Metalmark.  These have been seen daily at the National Butterfly Center the past couple of weeks.

And then there were the Pierids, thirteen species in total including this big stonking female Orange-barred Sulphur.

And a Florida White.

And four Giant Whites.

And the first Mexican Yellows we've had in a while.

The were a couple of Boisduval's Yellows, one of which was last seen heading into my big Senna patch.

And late in the afternoon I found this sharp Common Mestra and beat up Mazans Scallopwing.

Here's our New Year's Day list of 48 species!

• Giant Swallowtail 1
• Florida White 1
• Checkered White 2
• Great Southern White 1
• Giant White 4
• Orange Sulphur 1
• Southern Dogface 1
• Cloudless Sulphur 8
• Orange-barred Sulphur 1
• Large Orange Sulphur 10
• Boisduval's Yellow 1
• Mexican Yellow 2
• Little Yellow 5
• Mimosa Yellow 1
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 3
• Reakirt's Blue 2
• Curve-winged Metalmark 2
• American Snout 1
• Gulf Fritillary 6
• Zebra Heliconian 1
• Texan Crescent 3
• Pale-banded Crescent 3
• Painted Lady 1
• Red Admiral 2
• White Peacock 3
• Common Mestra 2
• Tawny Emperor 1
• Carolina Satyr 4
• Monarch 3
• Queen 10
• Soldier 4
• Long-tailed Skipper 2
• Dorantes Longtail 1
• Brown Longtail 6
• Mazans Scallopwing 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 5
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 20
• Laviana White-Skipper 6
• Julia's Skipper 1
• Clouded Skipper 25
• Southern Skipperling 3
• Fiery Skipper 1
• Whirlabout 5
• Sachem 1
• Common Mellana 2
• Eufala Skipper 8
• Hecebolus Skipper 1
• Purple-washed Skipper 2