National Butterfly Center, 8/16/25

It's still hot and nasty in the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas but there's a hint of fall in the air.  Maybe it's just the days getting a little shorter.  The Mid Valley got rained on hard by a weird little low pressure system that spun up in the Gulf so I ran over to the National Butterfly Center yesterday to see what was going on.  They got very little rain but there were still plenty of butterflies.  Star of the day was this stonking Brown-banded Skipper.  It was so strongly marked it had me scratching my head a bit.  It's been a couple of years since I have seen one.

There was a nice White-patched Skipper in the in front of the visitors center.

I like spread winged skippers.  But sometimes I get tired of of Sickle-winged Skippers when they are so common.  But lately they have been uncommon so this one was appreciated.

All of the tailed skippers were missing tails.  I think they have blown up from Mexico rather than hatched locally.  Here's Brown Longtail and White-striped Longtail.

This worn Lantana Scrub-Hairstreak looks particularly dull against the scarlet Jatropha.

Goatweed Leafwings are always a treat in the Valley.

Here is the more common Tropical Leafwing.

Elada Checkerspots are regular near the restrooms.

A spur of the moment visit racked up 41 species.  Nothing wrong with that.

• Pipevine Swallowtail 1
• Giant Swallowtail 7
• Southern Dogface 1
• Cloudless Sulphur 2
• Large Orange Sulphur 20
• Lyside Sulphur 10
• Little Yellow 6
• Gray Hairstreak 2
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 2
• Lantana Scrub-Hairstreak 1
• Cassius Blue 3
• Ceraunus Blue 10
• American Snout 6
• Gulf Fritillary 10
• Mexican Fritillary 1
• Bordered Patch 6
• Elada Checkerspot 5
• Texan Crescent 1
• Phaon Crescent 25
• Mexican Bluewing 8
• Common Mestra 1
• Tropical Leafwing 6
• Goatweed Leafwing 1
• Tawny Emperor 8
• Queen 8
• White-striped Longtail 1
• Brown Longtail 6
• Sickle-winged Skipper 1
• Brown-banded Skipper 1
• White-patched Skipper 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 3
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 12
• Laviana White-Skipper 6
• Julia's Skipper 1
• Clouded Skipper 6
• Southern Skipperling 2
• Fiery Skipper 5
• Whirlabout 1
• Southern Broken-Dash 5
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 4
• Eufala Skipper 1

Ruddy Hairstreak at NBC, 2-12-25

I had stuff to do today but Mary Beth Stowe found a Mourning Cloak at the National Butterfly Center so I changed plans.  I never found it but as it turned out it was a good day to be there ahead of the approaching cold front.  The elbo bushes had quit blooming but white brush and baby bonnets took up the slack.  Pride of place (I like this old British term) goes to this sharp little Ruddy Hairstreak.  Males are easy to ID if you can see the orange upper wing surfce.  Females are dull above and identical to Muted Hairstreak.  The little guy was flashing orange!

Common Streaky Skippers have appeared out of nowhere.  I saw three today.

Mazan's Scallopwing is not common at the NBC.  Resaca de la Palma is a better place to find it.

My first Goatweed Leafwing for 2025.

This is most likely a female Orange Sulphur but I'm not sure how you could rule out Clouded Sulphur.  I like the pink overtones.

Texan Crescents were out.

The other note worthy event today was the return of the native bees.  Identification is a challenge but iNaturalist helps.  I think this is the Texas Nomad Bee, a kleptoparasite of some of the little Andrena mining bees.

Female Texas Agopostemn is hairy compared to the other green sweat bees.

And I haven't figured out this dark little sweat bee.  Not finding anything like it online.

Here's today's list of 35 species.

• Black Swallowtail 1
• Orange Sulphur 2
• Lyside Sulphur 6
• Little Yellow 3
• Sleepy Orange 1
• Silver-banded Hairstreak 1
• Gray Hairstreak 5
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 2
• Ruddy Hairstreak 1
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 2
• Western Pygmy-Blue 1
• Reakirt's Blue 4
• Fatal Metalmark 3
• American Snout 10
• Bordered Patch 1
• Texan Crescent 3
• Phaon Crescent 5
• Pearl Crescent 1
• Red Admiral 6
• White Peacock 1
• Mexican Bluewing 2
• Tropical Leafwing 5
• Goatweed Leafwing 1
• Mazans Scallopwing 1
• Funereal Duskywing 2
• White Checkered-Skipper 8
• Laviana White-Skipper 2
• Common Streaky-Skipper 3
• Clouded Skipper 1
• Southern Skipperling 2
• Fiery Skipper 2
• Sachem 2
• Common Mellana 2
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 2
• Eufala Skipper 1

Progreso Lakes, 10/14/17

A warm humid day with a breeze but not the strong winds that we often get ahead of a cold front, turned out to be pretty good for butterflies in our Progreso Lakes yard.  Here's some photos.

Best butterfly goes to the two Giant whites.

I always like the crazy eyes on Red-bordered Metalmarks.

Looks like another Goatweed Leafwing to me.

A Western Giant Swallowtail oviposited on my Colima and then got harassed by amorous males.

Lots of common species helped run our yard total for the day to 45, a new high.

• Giant Swallowtail 3
• Giant White 2
• Cloudless Sulphur 8
• Large Orange Sulphur 2
• Tailed Orange 1
• Little Yellow 3
• Mimosa Yellow 2
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 2
• Cassius Blue 3
• Ceraunus Blue 4
• Rounded Metalmark 2
• Red-bordered Metalmark 4
• Red-bordered Pixie 1
• Gulf Fritillary 1
• Bordered Patch 3
• Vesta Crescent 2
• Phaon Crescent 3
• Pearl Crescent 3
• Painted Lady 2
• White Peacock 7
• Goatweed Leafwing 1
• Carolina Satyr 1
• Monarch 1
• Queen 25
• Soldier 2
• Brown Longtail 5
• Mimosa Skipper 1
• Sickle-winged Skipper 6
• White-patched Skipper 2
• Mournful Duskywing 3
• White Checkered-Skipper 4
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 6
• Laviana White-Skipper 6
• Turk's-cap White-Skipper 2
• Julia's Skipper 1
• Fawn-spotted Skipper 3
• Clouded Skipper 15
• Southern Skipperling 6
• Fiery Skipper 8
• Whirlabout 2
• Southern Broken-Dash 3
• Common Mellana 1
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 3
• Eufala Skipper 5
• Olive-clouded Skipper 1

National Butterfly Center, 8/27/17

With a strong westerly wind blowing courtesy of Hurricane Harvey, I thought maybe something different might be found at the National Butterfly Center.  Bug of the day had to go to this sharp Ornythion Swallowtail.

The parade of Statira Sulphurs continues.

Finally got a Many-banded Daggerwing for the year.

It been a good summer for Dingy Purplewings.

Whenever I find Desert Checkered-Skipper at the NBC they are always in the sunken garden.

Brown-banded and White-patched Skippers are always worth a photo.

I think this is a Goatweed Leafwing.

So it turned out to be a fine afternoon with forty species though I don't think any were due to the westerly wind.

• Pipevine Swallowtail 1
• Giant Swallowtail 8
• Ornythion Swallowtail 1
• Southern Dogface 10
• Cloudless Sulphur 1
• Large Orange Sulphur 15
• Statira Sulphur 5
• Lyside Sulphur 80
• Little Yellow 5
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 3
• Western Pygmy-Blue 2
• American Snout 50
• Gulf Fritillary 8
• Julia Heliconian 2
• Variegated Fritillary 1
• Bordered Patch 3
• Vesta Crescent 2
• Phaon Crescent 8
• Painted Lady 1
• Common Buckeye 1
• Mexican Bluewing 8
• Dingy Purplewing 5
• Tropical Leafwing 1
• Goatweed Leafwing 1
• Tawny Emperor 50
• Queen 80
• Soldier 5
• Brown Longtail 2
• Brown-banded Skipper 1
• White-patched Skipper 3
• White Checkered-Skipper 1
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 8
• Desert Checkered-Skipper 1
• Laviana White-Skipper 5
• Clouded Skipper 3
• Fiery Skipper 6
• Whirlabout 1
• Southern Broken-Dash 8
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 1
• Eufala Skipper 4

National Butterfly Center, 2/21/14

With all the cold weather we've had this winter, it's been difficult to see ten species of butterflies.  But it got really hot yesterday with a strong southerly wind, followed by a weak cold front last night so I thought today might be a good day at the National Butterfly Center.  Turns out I was right.  The weather was perfect and I saw 43 species of butterflies, many new for the year.  Exciting for me was my first Goatweed Leafwing.  I think I've seen it before up north but it was my first for the Valley.

The rest of 'em were among our more common species.  I guess this beat up female Black Swallowtail was less common.

If Clouded Skippers were rare, we would get all excited about them.  The winter form is pretty sharp looking.

Many of our butterflies have a tropical look to them, but Orange Sulphur looks like something you would see up north.

Even during some pretty cold days this winter you could still find a Red Admiral.

Our two duskywings, Funerial and Mournful, often present ID problems.  Today all I saw at the NBC were Funerial Duskywing.

When I got home, the first thing I saw in the garden was a couple of Mournful Duskywings.  They are really different.