After my good day in Zapata last week I thought it was worth another effort. Also I noticed I was second on iNaturalist on the list of butterflies for not often visited Zapata County. Can't have that. So I got a pretty early start and arrived at the butterfly garden at the Zapata Museum of History at 9:30. Queens were already out in force.
Time to start digging through the skippers. Lots of Huron Sachems.
I discovered the garden also goes behind the Museum. Ocola Skippers have really invaded the Valley during the past few weeks.
And then an Ocola with the forewing extending back too far. Purple-washed Skipper! There were several, some even showing the extra spot.
And then another new one for my Zapata County list.... Turk's-Cap White-Skipper, a nice female which I don't see very often.
Back in the front was a fresh Skinner's (formerly Coyote) Cloudywing.
And a fresh Julia's Skipper.
And then another trip to the back netted an Erichson's White-Skipper. These are probably not rare up here.
38 species seems pretty good for that garden, almost half of them from the familiy Hesperiidae. As Jeff Bryant said it was a skipperlicious day!
- Pipevine Swallowtail 1
- Southern Dogface 6
- Cloudless Sulphur 5
- Orange-barred Sulphur 20
- Lyside Sulphur 20
- Little Yellow 2
- Sleepy Orange 2
- Gray Hairstreak 10
- Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 5
- Ceraunus Blue 10
- Fatal Metalmark 1
- American Snout 5
- Gulf Fritillary 15
- Theona Checkerspot 1
- Bordered Patch 3
- Elada Checkerspot 1
- Phaon Crescent 1
- Common Buckeye 1
- White Peacock 8
- Queen 80
- Dorantes Longtail 1
- Coyote Cloudywing 2
- Sickle-winged Skipper 1
- White-patched Skipper 2
- Funereal Duskywing 1
- White Checkered-Skipper 2
- Erichson's White-Skipper 1
- Turk's-cap White-Skipper 1
- Julia's Skipper 1
- Clouded Skipper 25
- Fiery Skipper 40
- Whirlabout 1
- Sachem 25
- Celia's Roadside-Skipper 3
- Eufala Skipper 40
- Olive-clouded Skipper 1
- Ocola Skipper 8
- Purple-washed Skipper 5
