National Butterfly Center, 10/16/25

Over five hours spent at the National Butterfly Center turned up 48 species.  Despite hot dry conditions, crucita is starting to bloom and butterfly numbers have really increased compared to five days ago.  This Red-crescent Scrub-Hairstreak is the first I've seen this year.

It's been a good fall for Brown-banded Skippers.

It's always a good sign when the Giant Whites are blowing up from Mexico.

My first Ocola Skipper for the fall.

Saw a couple of Lantana Scrub-Hairstreaks.

There were hundreds of Queens on the crucita.

.

And even a few Soldiers.

I liked this Red-bordered Metalmark.

I can't tell who she is eating.

Here's today's list of 48 species.

• Pipevine Swallowtail 1
• Giant Swallowtail 2
• Giant White 1
• Southern Dogface 25
• Cloudless Sulphur 4
• Large Orange Sulphur 50
• Lyside Sulphur 10
• Little Yellow 5
• Gray Hairstreak 10
• Red-crescent Scrub-Hairstreak 1
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 3
• Lantana Scrub-Hairstreak 2
• Ceraunus Blue 30
• American Snout 80
• Gulf Fritillary 15
• Mexican Fritillary 3
• Bordered Patch 25
• Elada Checkerspot 1
• Phaon Crescent 25
• Red Admiral 1
• Common Buckeye 1
• White Peacock 3
• Mexican Bluewing 2
• Tropical Leafwing 3
• Empress Leilia 2
• Tawny Emperor 60
• Queen 300
• Soldier 5
• White-striped Longtail 2
• Sickle-winged Skipper 5
• Brown-banded Skipper 1
• White-patched Skipper 8
• Mournful Duskywing 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 10
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 5
• Laviana White-Skipper 20
• Clouded Skipper 60
• Double-dotted Skipper 1
• Southern Skipperling 5
• Fiery Skipper 30
• Whirlabout 6
• Southern Broken-Dash 3
• Sachem 5
• Common Mellana 5
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 15
• Eufala Skipper 20
• Ocola Skipper 2
• Mexican Crescent 1

First Gray Cracker of the Fall at NBC, 8/9/25

Fall?  As a birder my fall season starts with the first returning migrants which usually starts about the first of July.  Then the first Orchard Orioles, Black-andwhite Warblers and Louisiana Waterthrushes start to trickle though.  Purple Martins are staging for migration.  And the first Mexican butterflies start to wander northward.

It's been nasty hot and dry lately.  "Hot and Nasty" as Black Oak Arkansas sang in the 70's.  But somebody, might have been Ryan, found a Gray Cracker at the National Butterfly Center yesterday.  When the alert with photo when out on the Discord app, I noticed the cracker had no red in the marginal "s" spot on the forewing.  After last year's invasion of Glaucous Crackers I brought this up.  The notion was quickly pooh-poohed by others.  I wasn't so sure so I made a trip over there yesterday to try to locate the butterfly.  It was easy to find on the sme bait log as the day before.  The "s" spot seems to have a very sight pinkish wash but more importantly the tell tale seventh submarginal cell on the under side of the fore wing lack the diagnotic white spot of a Glaucous so it's a Gray Cracker as reported.  And a really nice one at that.

Saw my first Soldiers for the fall.

This fat female Tropical Leafwing is missing a piece of wing.  They use crotons for a host plant.

Last year I noticed Blue Spiny Lizards for the first time at the National Butterfly Center.  This RGV specialty is partial to caliche outcrops but has adapted to concrete and brick structures.  There's a nice colony at the entrace to nearby Bentsen State Park.  Anyway they are making their selves at home at the NBC.  This one was on the rest room in the lower garden.

A Yellow Angled Sulphur was also reported yesterday so stuff is on the move.

• Giant Swallowtail 6
• Southern Dogface 1
• Cloudless Sulphur 5
• Large Orange Sulphur 20
• Lyside Sulphur 2
• Little Yellow 6
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 1
• Cassius Blue 1
• Ceraunus Blue 3
• American Snout 2
• Gulf Fritillary 12
• Bordered Patch 3
• Elada Checkerspot 3
• Phaon Crescent 12
• White Peacock 1
• Mexican Bluewing 1
• Gray Cracker 1
• Tropical Leafwing 4
• Tawny Emperor 6
• Queen 15
• Soldier 3
• Brown Longtail 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 1
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 10
• Laviana White-Skipper 3
• Clouded Skipper 3
• Southern Skipperling 2
• Fiery Skipper 1
• Southern Broken-Dash 1

Osca Skipper at Progreso Lakes, 10/14/21

Late summer and the first part of fall this year has produced little in the way of interesting butterflies in our Progreso Lakes yard.  Probably just a hangover from the big freeze in February.  Then I was gone for a couple of weeks out west and I returned to find the crucita blooming and lots of butterflies.  With a strong warm southeasterly wind today and an Emerald Aguna at the National Butterfly Center, I thought it might be a good time to work the yard over for butterflies.  My reward was our first Osca Skipper!  This rare Mexican grass skipper is reported very infrequently in the RGV of south Texas.  It was butterfly #132 for our yard.  It was not a lifer though as I had found one back in Oct of 2011 at the National Butterfly Center.

I did a double take on this Florida White and had to run inside and check the book.  I've never seen a female this dark.

There was a beat up Wester Giant Swallowtail flapping around me and I ignored it till it landed nearby.  I took a few shots only to discover it was a very yellow Ornythion Swallowtail.  It was the fifth ever for our yard.

First Purple-washed Skipper for the year.

Mimosa Skippers have been hard to come by this year.

Lots of Soldiers and Queens in the yard today.  These copulating Soldiers say "Dont ask.  Dont tell."

I had a list of 29 species for today but I forgot to copy it.  More southerly winds ahead of a cold front are forecast for tomorrow so more good stuff is possible.

Chestnut Crescent, Band-celled Sister at Progreso Lakes, 12/12/20

I spent the morning looking at birds in our Progreso Lakes yard.  After lunch I switched over to butterflies and scored a good one with this female Chestnut Crescent which was yard butterfly #128.  I've seen a few over at Estero so it wasn't a big surprise but it's still a great butterfly for the yard.

A bit later I finally found a long overdue Band-celled Sister which was near a little Crucillo which is the host plant.  Would be neat if it layed some eggs.  Yard butterfly #129.

There were two female Florida Whites.  Here's the photogenic one.

It's interesting that we had strong southerly wind yesterday morning which may account for these different butterflies.  I don't know if this Boisduval's Yellow was blown in or if it hatched out on our Senna.

Here's an unusually marked Soldier.

First Reakirt's Blue of the season.

• Pipevine Swallowtail 1
• Florida White 2
• Cloudless Sulphur 2
• Large Orange Sulphur 4
• Lyside Sulphur 5
• Boisduval's Yellow 1
• Little Yellow 5
• Dainty Sulphur 1
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 5
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 3
• Reakirt's Blue 1
• Red-bordered Pixie 6
• American Snout 2
• Gulf Fritillary 2
• Texan Crescent 1
• Chestnut Crescent 1
• White Peacock 3
• Band-celled Sister 1
• Common Mestra 1
• Tawny Emperor 2
• Monarch 3
• Queen 10
• Soldier 5
• Brown Longtail 5
• Sickle-winged Skipper 2
• Funereal Duskywing 1
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 5
• Desert Checkered-Skipper 5
• Laviana White-Skipper 6
• Julia's Skipper 1
• Fawn-spotted Skipper 3
• Clouded Skipper 6
• Southern Skipperling 3
• Fiery Skipper 3
• Eufala Skipper 2

Ruddy Daggerwing at Progreso Lakes, 7/28/20

As I spent the morning cleaning up after Hurrican Hanna, I kept noticing a large orange butterfly flapping and gliding overhead.  Finally I saw it dart into our big rubber tree where I was able to get a few shots.  It was only the second Ruddy Daggerwing we've ever had in the yard.  My brush hollies are sure to bloom after the eight inches of rain we received so I'm expecting them to attract more daggerwings.

A worn but still colorful Guava Skipper graced the other side of the yard.

Yesterday I released my fourth Polydamas Swallowtail of the summer.  Two were ovipositing on the big Dutchman's Pipe.

And speaking of ovipositing, this Sickle-winged Skipper left a few eggs on one of the colimas.

Still plenty of Queens and Soldiers around.

The rain from Hurricane Hanna is only going to bring us more butterflies this summer.  I have some ideas about what may be next but if I say it, it won't come true.

Progreso Lakes, 6/27/20

We finally got a couple of inches of rain yesterday and the ground was soft so I spent the morning digging grass and pulling up seedlings in my brush patch.  After lunch I did rounds of the yard looking for butterflies and danged if I didn't find another Falcate Skipper. 

Here's the one from two days ago and it clearly has a chunk missing from the right wing tip.

The other big news is I found copulating Boisduval's Yellows.  I doubt this has been photographed very often and certainly not in Hidalgo County.

And then there was this one.  It seemed the size of an Ocola Skipper but the fore wing seems narrow and juts out quite a bit like a Purple-washed.  I tried to flash it to get an open winged shot but it didn't cooperate.  Best to probably call it Panoquina sp.

Great Southern White

Copulating Soldiers.  Don't ask.  Don't tell.

Mimosa Yellow.

Hot with strong southerly winds is the forecast for next week.  Hope something good blows in.