After a fun morning at the Gene Howe WMA east of Canadian in Hemphill County, I ran up to a road fifteen miles away that I was wanting to check in Lipscomb County in the NW corner of the Texas Panhandle. I should have gotten up there earlier in the day but butterfly activity was so slow at Gene Howe that I wasn't too excited about it. It was just a perfunctory check while I was in the area. But four years ago James Giroux had some good Great Plains butterflies up there.
As I drove up US 83 through the rolling short grass prairie my Jeep's thermometer said 97F. That's not good. Soon I reached TX 23 and just a mile to CR CC which runs east-west. I immediately saw a few thistles and my only Gulf Fritillary for the trip.
Not a lot else but across the road was another thistle, this one with a skipper. Glassberg's guide shows this one to be a Green Skipper. I've only seen a few of these so that was nice.
There were Gallairdia, thistles, legumes and other flowers I didn't know. More flowers than I had seen on this trip. So I started walking the road and found this big hairstreak on a Gaillardia. This is one I was hoping for, Gray Copper, a Great Plains grassland specialist.
And just a few feet down the road I recognized Painted Crescent from my Big Bend trip a few weeks ago,
And then my lifer Fulvia Ceckerspot. Actually I saw Fulvia Checkerspot in the Chiricahuas a few years ago, but that race has been raised to full specific status and is known as the Chiricahua Checkerspot. This is the real Fulvia Chekcerspot.
After about a quaerter mile I ran out of flowers so I walked back to the Jepp and drove a bit more down the road. Another Gray Copper was on the Purple Coneflower.
Then a big tawny unmarked grass skipper. I'm pretty sure it's the endangedered Ottoe Skipper. There were several over the next couple of hundred yards. I'm still waiting for a corroborating ID on iNat.
And then a boldly marked Uncas Skipper, my first for Texas.
And more Green Skippers. The Narrow-leaf Purple Coneflowers were really productive,
Then I glimpsed a little dark grass skipper and fired a few shots. Based on habitat, the dark medial patch on the hind wing and the poorly checked dark fringe I think this is Oslar's Roadside-Skipper. I was hoping to find one of these in the Davis Mountains. I'm waitng for an ID on this one too.
This next skipper had me checking the guide. I saw several like it. I think it's just a heavily worn Uncas Skipper.
This hairstreak had me scratching my head. The SM band is a little strange but the thecla spot says Gray Hairstreak.
Another Fulvia Checkerspot.
And then a smaller more yellow grass skipper with pale veins on the hind wing. Another endangered prairie species, Aragos Skipper. James Giroux had them at the same spot.
Another Uncas Skipper.
Another Ottoe Skipper. This one has a faint spot band.
Grassland butterflies are threatened across the country by poor grazing practices and the plow. CR CC is a nice little road that runs through some still healthy short grass prairie. I think I picked up five lifers. After two hours the temperature had reached 102. Didn't seem to bother the butterflies but I was fried.
