Resaca de La Palma St Park, 6/27/25

I've been spending more of my time lately on the west end of the Rio Grande Valley so today I decided to head east to Resaca de la Palma State Park.  The butterfly garden was a bit dry but the Ebony Grove Trail looked good.  I got some of the area specialties and missed some.  This Band-celled Sister was oviposting on Randia rhagocarpa.

I had a few frustating glimpses of Boisduval's Yellow but finally got one ovipositing on Senna pendula.  I always suspected that was the host plant but this is my first time to get visual confirmation.

The third local specialty was Mazan's Scallopwing.  Only males today.

Female Mexican Bluewings were busy laying eggs on Vasey's Adelia.

A Marcellina Sulphur (southwestern version of Cloudless) oviposited on Senna pendula.

I rarely see the Eastern Cicada Killer Wasp so it was unusual to see at least a dozen today.  This giant wasp had staked out a territory right in front of the visitors center.

Here's today's list of twenty species.

• Giant Swallowtail 3
• Giant White 1
• Cloudless Sulphur 10
• Large Orange Sulphur 1
• Lyside Sulphur 6
• Boisduval's Yellow 2
• Little Yellow 3
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 2
• Clytie Ministreak 3
• Rounded Metalmark 1
• American Snout 1
• Phaon Crescent 1
• Band-celled Sister 1
• Mexican Bluewing 5
• Queen 2
• Mazans Scallopwing 3
• Sickle-winged Skipper 5
• White Checkered-Skipper 2
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 25
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 1

Gold-spotted Aguna at La Puerta, 6/24/25

This morning I ran back out to the La Puerta tract of the Lower Rio Grande Valley NWR to see if I could get better photos of the Exomalopsis birkmanni.  The poor ones I had gotten a few days ago were a first for iNaturalist for this tiny long-horned bee.  But the patch of white brush where I found them was about bloomed out and there wasn't much going one.  On the other hand, the Texas Lantana and Cenizo were blooming like crazy so there had to something out there.  Well I didn't see much but quality is better than quantity.  My first Gold-spotted Aguna for the year was a real surprise.  Glassberg has then catagorized as rare but I see one most years.

The same patch of lantana held a Coyote Cloudywing.  Nick Grishin's crew has moved the taxon into the genus Cecropterus and now considers the taxon as a subspecies of Skinner's Cloudywing, Cecropterus albociliatus  Ugh.  Not a popular decision for many of the old timers but it probably makes sense.

Cenizo, romantically refered to as Purple Sage, is the host plant for Theona Checkerspot.  I bet we have a lot of them in a few weeks.

These copulating Bombus bee flies were interesting.

Several Heartleaf  Hibiscus were blooming but I rarely see pollinators on them.

Here's the tiny Exomalopsis birkmanni as identified by Paula Cole, author of  Wild Bees of the National Butterfly Center.  I don't think they are very rare.

Ornythion Swallowtail at La Puerta, 6/20/25

The east and west ends of the Rio Grande Valley have been getting quite a bit of rain lately but it's been spotty in the mid Valley.  Butterfly numbers are still low after the dry hot spring but maybe things are starting to pick up.  I ran out to the La Puerta tract of the Lower Rio GrandeValley NWR yesterday to look for native bees and encountered a few good butterflies.  This ragged female Ornythion Swallowtail was my first of the year.  They use plants of the family Rutaceae like Colima and Barreta as a host as does the more common Western Giant Swallowtail so hopefull she will find some to her liking.

Here is the similar Western Giant Swallowtail.  The easiest field mark is the spot on the "tail" which is lacking on Ornythinon.  The first thing I usually notice is the more pale coloration of Ornythion.  The wing patterns are different also.

A Pipevine Swallowtail passed through.

While I was photographing the Ornythion a young fellow with a camera approached.  It was the first time I've ever encountered anyone at La Puerta.  He said he lived just a few minutes away and then he described a blueish butterfly in a bush with white flowers. Wow it sounded like a great Purple Hairstreak in a White Brush.  He led me down the trail a short distance and there it was.  A bit scruffy but my first of the summer.

This Coyote Cloudywing looks like it's fresh out of the chrysalis.  Like so many its hind wing is folded a bit giving it the "stub tailed" appearance of a Jalapus Cloudywing.  I wish there ws a better field mark.

Beewise there were plenty of Protoxaea gloriosa out.  This one was guarding its territory.

They've also been getting rainin the butterfly producing country to the south.  Maybe it will be a good summer.

National Butterfly Center, 5/11/25

Butterflies have picked up at the National Butterfly Center but only common stuff.  I was going to post a few photos but I forgot and cleared my SD card so here's the list of 36 species.  We missed out of the forecast rain here in Hidalgo County.  Locally it's dry and we have a long stretch of 100+ in the forecast so hopefully things won't fry too badly.

• Giant Swallowtail 6
• Southern Dogface 1
• Large Orange Sulphur 6
• Lyside Sulphur 20
• Sleepy Orange 1
• Gray Hairstreak 3
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 4
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 1
• Ceraunus Blue 5
• Reakirt's Blue 20
• Red-bordered Metalmark 1
• American Snout 1
• Gulf Fritillary 2
• Bordered Patch 3
• Elada Checkerspot 8
• Texan Crescent 1
• Phaon Crescent 6
• Common Buckeye 1
• Mexican Bluewing 1
• Tawny Emperor 1
• Queen 60
• White-striped Longtail 1
• Brown Longtail 1
• Sickle-winged Skipper 3
• Funereal Duskywing 6
• White Checkered-Skipper 15
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 8
• Laviana White-Skipper 5
• Julia's Skipper 1
• Southern Skipperling 1
• Fiery Skipper 6
• Whirlabout 6
• Sachem 1
• Common Mellana 1
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 25
• Eufala Skipper 3

Vicroy's Ministreak at La Puerta Tract, 5/7/25

Monday I was driving out to Salineno and Falcon to look for birds but I got a late start so as I approached Rio Grande City I thought why not check out the La Puerta Tract of the Lower Rio Grande NWR.  Turns out it was lush and birdy.  So yesterday I ran there again but it was less birdy and the sun was out and stuff was flying.  So I switched over to butterflies and bees and had a good morning.  Butterfly of the day was this pebbly little Vicroy's Ministreak, only my third and first self found.

Otherwise butterflies were numerous but with low diversity as has been the case since the freeze and flood.  There was lots of cenizo out there so a Theona Checkerspot was expected.

Best I can tell this is a Theona Checkerspot catepillar.

Lots of Western Giant Swallowtails.

And lots of sulphurs like this Southern Dogface.

This fresh Funereal Duskywing almost looks like a Mournful but not mottled enough on the interior forewing.

Otherwise it was an amazing display of native bees like giant Glorious Protoxea.

And tiny Vireck's Nomad Cuckoo Bee.

Here are both of these rare bees together for a size comparison.

Hoping we can get some more rain to keep this stuff going or they're going to fry in the summer heat.

East Texas Butterflies, 4/15-16/25

After spending the winter butterflying the Rio Grande Valley, Terry Mortier has been working his way home with time spent in east Texas.  His recent posts on the NABA Facebook group included a number of east Texas butterfly species I have never seen.  So I made a run up to Jasper to see what I could find.  Checking iNaturalist I saw Terry found a number of species around Indian Mounds camp ground east of Hemphill in eastern Sabine county.  One species I really wanted was the Lace-winged Roadside-skipper.  This well marked small skipper uses giant cane as a host plant, something I was not seeing as I explored the area.  The dry conditions with not much blooming was making for a slow morning.

As I approched the campground I saw a dirt track leading off CR 83 signed with an arrow pointing to Butler Point.  As I drove this road through the pines I started to see a few flowers and butterflies which were mostly common Carolina Satyrs and Little Wood Satyrs.  And then I saw a larger satyr; my lifer Creole Pearly Eye!

Then I saw another satyr that seemed larger than the Carolina Satyrs and flew differently.  It was the first of several Gemmed Satyrs.  My only previous Gemmed Satyr was one yeras ago at Resaca de la Palma.

As I walked the dirt track a little skipper popped up.  It sat on a leaf facing me but at enough of an angle that I scould see some pattern on its wings.  I fired the camera and couldn't believe what I saw.  It was a striking Lace-winged Roadside-Skipper.  I saw several later on and then noticed the bamboo growing in the area.

A flash of orange was a beat up Goatweed Leafwing.

A tiny rusty colored butterfly drifted down from the pine above and landed on the road.  Pine Elfin was a lifer for me just a year ago near Livingston, TX.

Then I saw another larger satyr.  This one turned out to be a Southern Pearly Eye.  My only other one was with Tom Pendleton back in 2011 when we made a dragonfly run to Boykin Springs.

A dark grass skipper proved to be a Dun skipper.

A beat up Red-banded Hairstreak.

Then I saw a medium sized dark brown butterfly with coppery band on the forewing and a flash of white below.  My first though was Silver-spotted SKipper.  I quickly shot a photo and was happy to get my lifer Hoary Edge.  That was another one I really wanted.

I returned to CR 83 and headed toward Indian Mounds camp ground.  At an intersection a cloudywing bounced from flower to flower.  I shot a few photos and assumed it was the usual Northern Cloudywing.  But after I returned home, I entered it into iNaturalist and AI's first choice was confused Cloudywing.  According to Glassberg, Confused Cloudywing can be lightly marked like a Northern but has a more distinct white eye line.  The jury is still out on this one but I'm hoping for a lifer Confused cloudywing.  It sure looks like some of the photos on BOA.

After a good afternoon I blew off the campground and headed into Hemphill for some dinner.  The next morning I was torn between going to Boykin Springs where I didn't really have any target species although I knew habitat would be good or spending another day to the east along the Sabine River.  I chose the later hoping to come across a Twin-spot Skipper even though iNat only showd two records for Texas for this southern skipper.  I was intrigued by a location on the map shown as the Wild Azalia Canyon Trail.  Turned out the trail had been overgrown for years and the surrounding area had been heavily logged.  And it was really dry.  After an uneventful morning I stopped at a small stream crossing for lunch.  I got an American Lady.

And then another Dun Skipper.

And then another small dark skipper.  What the hell.  It reminded me of a Eufala Skipper but lacked the bold eyebrow.  Julia's skipper?  Are they up here?  I took some shots and uon returning home I spent some time with the books.  Turns out I had completely forgotten about Swarthy Skipper, another Nastra species like Julia's.  Another lifer!

At this point I decided to run over to Martin Dies State Park and feed the mosquitos,  I soon came across a Red-spotted Admiral.

And Little Wood Satyr.

I was sure this black caterpillar was a butterfly but I was wrong.  It's an Eastern Buck Moth.

I probably should have spent another day but I wasn't feeling well so I headed on back to the RGV.  I don't particularly care for the east Texas piney woods.  I always feel some local is going to come up behind me with a shot gun and ask me to "squeel like a pig."  But there's a few more butterflies I need over there so I guess I'll go back some day.