Natonal Butterfly Center, 5/1/24

It's been really dry this spring but there were still lots of butterflies at the National Butterfly Center.  But it's going to get really hot and number's will probably crash if we don't get rain soon.  Nothing really exciting today.  This Julia's Skipper had a contrasting ray on one side but it's not a Pale-rayed Skipper.

Elada Checkerspots were out in force.

As were Bordered Patches.

A good looking Funereal Duskywing.

The requisite Mexican Bluewings.

It's been a good spring for Long-tailed Skippers.

It's not very purple but I think this is a Purple-washed Skipper.  I forgot to put it on my list.

44 species is a pretty good haul for this time of year.

• Black Swallowtail 1
• Giant Swallowtail 3
• Checkered White 20
• Great Southern White 8
• Large Orange Sulphur 5
• Lyside Sulphur 20
• Little Yellow 8
• Mimosa Yellow 1
• Dainty Sulphur 2
• Gray Hairstreak 4
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 8
• Cassius Blue 1
• Ceraunus Blue 1
• Reakirt's Blue 20
• Rounded Metalmark 1
• American Snout 1
• Gulf Fritillary 1
• Zebra Heliconian 1
• Variegated Fritillary 1
• Mexican Fritillary 2
• Bordered Patch 12
• Elada Checkerspot 8
• Texan Crescent 12
• Phaon Crescent 10
• Pearl Crescent 1
• Common Buckeye 1
• Mexican Bluewing 8
• Common Mestra 1
• Empress Leilia 2
• Tawny Emperor 20
• Queen 10
• Long-tailed Skipper 1
• Mournful Duskywing 1
• Funereal Duskywing 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 10
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 20
• Laviana White-Skipper 10
• Julia's Skipper 1
• Clouded Skipper 8
• Southern Skipperling 2
• Fiery Skipper 2
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 1
• Eufala Skipper 2

Progreso Lakes yard, 6/17/20

It's been a slow dry spring but we've gotten a little rain lately and some different butterflies have been showing up.  Still happy to have a Boisduval's Yellow.  When they first showed up last November, I never dreamed
 they would become regular in our yard.

This Tropical Leafwing was ovipositing on Low Croton.  It's been a while since we've had one.

Bordered Patch has been pretty rare lately.

As has Sickle-winged Skipper.

But the Double-dotted Skippers seem to usually be around.  There were at least four today.

Our button bush is blooming nicely but the only take today was this Giant Swallowtail.

This White Peacock may have come from out Ruelia.  I've seen their caterpillars on them in the past.

I'm hoping we get more rain in the coming weeks.  If it doesn't get too hot it could be a good butterfly summer.

National Butterfly Center, 5/27/15

Honey and I put in four hours at the NBC yesterday and didn't see much interesting.  But I know it can change from day to day so I gave it another shot this morning and saw a lot more stuff.  Best was my first of the year Silver Emperor.  It had been reported a few days ago.  The blue iridescence depends on the angle of the light.

This weakened Ruby-spotted Swallowtail seemed partial to salts in the wet gravel in front of the vistors center.  I later saw a much better looking one but could not get a photo.

Mike Rickard dropped by during the afternoon and this Ornythion Swallowtail flew into an Ebony while we were talking.

After a long absence it was nice to see a Mexican Bluewing at the NBC and this one was ovipositing on its host plant, Vasey's Adelia.  An egg is visible by the tip of the abdomen.

A poor shot of a passing Giant White.

It's been awhile since I've seen Turk's-cap White-Skipper at the NBC.

Female Common Mellana.

Here's an interesting female Large Orange Sulphur.

Yesterday I found this Bordered Patch imitating a Crimson Patch.

Here's today's list of 51 species..

• Giant Swallowtail 2
• Ornythion Swallowtail 1
• Ruby-spotted Swallowtail 2
• Checkered White 2
• Great Southern White 10
• Giant White 1
• Southern Dogface 1
• Large Orange Sulphur 5
• Lyside Sulphur 12
• Little Yellow 5
• Gray Hairstreak 4
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 5
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 1
• Reakirt's Blue 3
• American Snout 3
• Gulf Fritillary 4
• Zebra Heliconian 2
• Bordered Patch 20
• Crimson Patch 1
• Elada Crescent 10
• Texan Crescent 6
• Pale-banded Crescent 1
• Phaon Crescent 25
• Pearl Crescent 8
• American Lady 1
• White Peacock 3
• Banded Peacock 1
• Common Mestra 1
• Tropical Leafwing 1
• Tawny Emperor 450
• Silver Emperor 1
• Carolina Satyr 1
• Queen 50
• Guava Skipper 1
• White-striped Longtail 1
• Brown Longtail 3
• Sickle-winged Skipper 3
• White Checkered-Skipper 8
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper10
• Laviana White-Skipper 15
• Turk's-cap White-Skipper 1
• Common Sootywing 3
• Julia's Skipper 3
• Fawn-spotted Skipper 3
• Clouded Skipper 15
• Southern Skipperling 1
• Fiery Skipper 2
• Whirlabout 3
• Common Mellana 4
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 3
• Eufala Skipper 2

Pinto Canyon Road, Presidio County, 4/6/15

With a break between storm systems I decided to make a run out to Big Bend to check out the birds and butterflies.  After a late start and spending the night in Sanderson I decided to detour to Marfa to look for Baird's Sparrow which was found without much effort so I decided to continue on south along RR 2810 and Pinto Canyon Road to see what I might find.  There was a spectacular display of flowers all across west Texas but finding butterflies took some work.  As the day warmed up I started to find some butterflies along Pinto Canyon Road.  Best was this Acacia Skipper, only the second I've ever seen.  This was my only shot. It was attracted to salts leaching out on the damp sand.

Another interesting butterfly at this site was this southwestern Bordered Patch.

A great Purple Hairstreak was also enjoying the salty road.

A butterfly was trapped in my car and I was surprised to see it was a powdered-skipper.  Turns out it was my first ever Arizona Powdered Skipper.

Other butterflies in this area were Pipevine Swallowtail, Sleepy Orange and Desert Checkered-Skipper. Despite a fantastic bloom of wild flowers I saw not additional interesting butterflies as I drove the Camino del Rio to Big Bend. 

National Butterfly Center, 8/9/13

This morning Honey and I ran over to the National Butterfly Center hoping to get lucky and find a Rosita Patch.  Several have been reported in the Valley lately.  Well, we missed that but I did manage to find a Crimson Patch.  This beauty has been hard to find in recent years.

This Bordered Patch had me going for a bit.

In the woods it was cracker city.  I found 15 Gray Crackers and two Guatemalan Crackers.  The concentric blue rings on the ocelli make this a Guatemalan.

I tried to turn this into a Glaucous but it's just a worn Gray Cracker.

The Mexican Bluewings are not easy to get close to with their wings open.  This was a distant shot.

Another distant photo was this White Angled-Sulphur.  If you get one in focus and just keep shooting you can usually get an open winged shot.

And just for the heck of it, here's a White Peacock.

Chestnut Crescent at NBC, 2/10/13

The thermometer hit 96 in McAllen today so I bet we were at least that hot at the National Butterfly Center south of Mission.  But that didn't keep that darn Mike Rickard from making another great find.  He managed to pick out a female Chestnut Crescent Phyciodes argentea from the many butterflies taking advantage of the springtime bloom.  Only half of a topside shot makes the ID pretty clear.

Here's the common Texas Crescent Phyciodes texana for comparisson.

Common Streaky Skipper Celotes nessus is not supposed to be rare in the RGV but the prolonged drought has had an affect on many species.  This is my first.  What a cool little bug.

I guess this is just a Long-tailed Skipper Urbanus proteus but the forewing spots sure don't seem to match the book.  I would appreciate any comments.

No problem with the ID on this White-striped Longtail Chioides catillus.

Recently Common Mellanas Quasimellana eulogius seem to have appeared out of nowhere.

The winter form of Clytie Ministreak Ministrymon clytie can get your imagination going.

Love is in the air for these Bordered Patches Chlosyne lacinia.

I finished the day with 57 species.  Not too bad for a hot winter day.