Crimson Patch eggathon orgy at NBC, 5/12/16

The spring bird migration has been much better than recent years so I have not spent much time lately with leps.  But things are slowing down a bit and I thought maybe I'll check out the National Butterfly Center for bugs and maybe some birds.  Lots of flowers blooming but not much in the way of interesting butterflies. When I finally got down to the old gardens I noticed a few Crimson Patches in the shaded area with the Dicliptera.  I used to think this was flame acanthus but John Rosford got me straightened out on that.  I then noticed a couple were depositing eggs.

I then noticed a couple of others and scanned the area trying to come up with the total number of Crimson Patches.  Then I saw this blob of several more of them.

More ovipositing was occurring.

And looking a little closer it was clear that in all the excitement they were getting a little sloppy about where they were placing their eggs.

With the weight of the eggs all on one wing her flight was pretty labored.  I imagine a bird or a lizard will probably get her.

It was quite a show.

And I topped it off with a calling Willow Flycatcher which is hard to find down here.

Banded Patch at NBC, 4/8/16

A couple of days ago Chris Balboni found a Banded Patch at the National Butterfly Center and I was fortunate to refind it today.  It's been quite a few years since one has been seen in the Valley and it was a new one for me.

Nearby was my first Crimson Patch of the year.

A few Theona Checkerspots were in the front gardens.

The Double-dotted Skippers had not been reported for a few weeks but I found a worn one today.

Cyna Blues were in several different snake herb patches.

Here's an uncommon Hackberry Emperor.

I picked out a Mimosa Yellow among the many Little Yellows.

Last bug of the day was this bright White-patched Skipper.

Here's today's list of 57 species.

• Black Swallowtail 4
• Western Tiger Swallowtail 2
• Checkered White 10
• Southern Dogface 2
• Large Orange Sulphur 4
• Lyside Sulphur 20
• Little Yellow 6
• Mimosa Yellow 1
• Dainty Sulphur 6
• Great Purple Hairstreak 1
• Gray Hairstreak 3
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 8
• Lantana Scrub-Hairstreak 1
• Cyna Blue 5
• Ceraunus Blue 2
• Reakirt's Blue 12
• Fatal Metalmark 1
• Red-bordered Metalmark 1
• American Snout 1
• Theona Checkerspot 2
• Bordered Patch 8
• Banded Patch 1
• Crimson Patch 1
• Elada Crescent 4
• Texan Crescent 5
• Vesta Crescent 4
• Phaon Crescent 25
• Pearl Crescent 1
• American Lady 1
• Red Admiral 4
• White Peacock 1
• Mexican Bluewing 1
• Hackberry Emperor 1
• Tawny Emperor 15
• Monarch 5
• Queen 75
• White-striped Longtail 1
• Brown Longtail 4
• Coyote Cloudywing 2
• Funereal Duskywing 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 10
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper25
• Laviana White-Skipper 6
• Turk's-cap White-Skipper 2
• Common Sootywing 2
• Julia's Skipper 5
• Fawn-spotted Skipper 2
• Clouded Skipper 15
• Double-dotted Skipper 1
• Southern Skipperling 6
• Fiery Skipper 6
• Whirlabout 2
• Southern Broken-Dash 10
• Sachem 1
• Common Mellana 1
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 25
• Eufala Skipper 5

National Butterfly Center, 6/15/15

The number of butterflies around has really taken a nosedive with all the recent heat and lack of rain.   Accordingly numbers were way down at the National Butterfly Center today, but that didn't mean stuff wasn't happening. Three brand new fresh Malachites were a welcome sight.

Seemingly overnight a bunch of new Crimson Patches had also emerged.  The few beat up lingering ones seemed to have finally given up.

A Desert Checkered-Skipper in the new gardens up front was my first at the park this year.

A Two-barred Flasher has been hanging out in the shady ditch lately.

This Gray Cracker looks much like the one that was hanging out a couple of hundred yards further north with the emperors last week.  It was down in the south gardens today.

Three Brown-banded Skippers were guarding the Barbados Cherries.  Maybe we'll have some more in a few weeks.

You can't tell it, but this was the smallest Zebra Heliconian I've ever seen.  The wingspan was barely two inches.

• Black Swallowtail 5
• Giant Swallowtail 2
• Ruby-spotted Swallowtail 1
• Great Southern White 8
• Cloudless Sulphur 1
• Large Orange Sulphur 2
• Lyside Sulphur 5
• Little Yellow 2
• Mimosa Yellow 2
• Gray Hairstreak 8
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 12
• Lantana Scrub-Hairstreak 1
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 10
• Ceraunus Blue 1
• American Snout 4
• Gulf Fritillary 3
• Zebra Heliconian 1
• Bordered Patch 2
• Crimson Patch 8
• Elada Crescent 8
• Texan Crescent 4
• Vesta Crescent 20
• Pearl Crescent 1
• White Peacock 3
• Malachite 3
• Tropical Leafwing 2
• Hackberry Emperor 150
• Queen 50
• Soldier 1
• Brown Longtail 3
• Two-barred Flasher 1
• Brown-banded Skipper 3
• White Checkered-Skipper 10
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 6
• Desert Checkered-Skipper 1
• Laviana White-Skipper 6
• Common Sootywing 2
• Julia's Skipper 2
• Fawn-spotted Skipper 1
• Clouded Skipper 6
• Fiery Skipper 1
• Whirlabout 2
• Sachem 1
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 2
• Eufala Skipper 3

National Butterfly Center, 6/27/14

Wednesday's rain really greened things up at the National Butterfly Center. Five hours of wandering around turned up 44 species. One of the first was this cooperative Two-barred Flasher.

This Guava Skipper was nectaring on crotons just a short distance from the guava bushes.

I kept scrutinizing the checkered-skippers and finally found my first Desert Checkered-Skipper for the NBC.

Texas Powdered Skippers continued to show. I saw two of them today.

Caught one of the Crimson Patches ovipositing. Gee, it layed a big pile eggs!

It's a good thing because replacements are needed. This one just barely had a pulse.

Here's a pretty Little Yellow.

I haven't seen many Common Mestras lately. Here's a nice one.

Giant Swallowtail 1
Large Orange Sulphur 1
Lyside Sulphur 30
Little Yellow 6
Dainty Sulphur 1
Gray Hairstreak 5
Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 8
Dusky-blue Groundstreak 4
Western Pygmy-Blue 1
Cassius Blue 1
Ceraunus Blue 1
Reakirt's Blue 3
American Snout 2
Gulf Fritillary 3
Zebra Heliconian 2
Variegated Fritillary 1
Bordered Patch 8
Crimson Patch 5
Texan Crescent 4
Vesta Crescent 1
Phaon Crescent 6
Pearl Crescent 2
Question Mark 1
Common Mestra 1
Tropical Leafwing 1
Empress Leilia 50
Carolina Satyr 1
Queen 40
Guava Skipper 1
Brown Longtail 4
Two-barred Flasher 1
Texas Powdered-Skipper 2
White Checkered-Skipper 20
Tropical Checkered-Skipper 6
Desert Checkered-Skipper 1
Laviana White-Skipper 8
Turk's-cap White-Skipper 2
Common Sootywing 2
Clouded Skipper 25
Fiery Skipper 1
Whirlabout 1
Southern Broken-Dash 1
Celia's Roadside-Skipper 1
Eufala Skipper 1

Silver Emperor at NBC, 6/17/14

It's been hot and dry lately with few butterflies, but I figured I would head on over to the National Butterfly Center anyway cuz I'm not going to see much just sitting around the house.  When I arrived Marianna told me Louie had just seen a female Silver Emperor.  Well it took me nearly four hours of wandering around and sweating profusely but she finally showed up on bait log #2.  What a beauty!  I had seen one years ago at Santa Ana but these are my first photos.  I was surprised how big it is.

Down in the ditch seemed to be the most productive place to get mosquito bitten and find interesting butterflies.  Second place today goes to this Two-barred Flasher.

Another good bug in the ditch was this surprise Soldier.  I have not seen one in months.

And yet another ditch denizen was this shade loving Fawn-spotted skipper, another species I have not seen lately.

The biggest surprise in the ditch was a cluster of twenty two Dusky-blue Groundstreaks all roosting at the base of a hackberry.  Pretty weird.  Eight are visible in this photo.

Back in the sunshine, I found this sharp female Red-bordered Metalmark, another species I have not seen in months.  This is really an underrated bug.

Here's a fresh Gray Hairstreak.

And I'll finish with a Crimson Patch on frogfruit.