Dark Kite-Swallowtail at Old Hidalgo Pumphouse, 6/5/16

It was another trip to Santa Ana NWR this morning to look for the Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher.  I gave up after four hours and went home for lunch.  After eating I was thinking about a nap when I got the call from Bill Supulski that Tripp Davenport had just found a Dark Kite-Swallowtail at the Old Hidalgo Pumphouse. Someone sees one of these every few years down here but they only hang round a couple of minutes and then they're gone.   From our house it's 22 miles to the Pumphouse so I thought it was worth a shot.  I raced over and Tripp, Bill, Dot, Robin and Troy were still there and so was the swallowtail.  It only hung around a few minutes more but I was happy to get some shots as it nectared in a blooming fiddlewood.  I was excited and forgot to move my lense down to 300 mm from 400 so these photos are not the best.

Earlier in the morning after a couple of hours at the Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher vigil my birding discipline weakened and I wandered over to the butterfly garden on the other side of the visitors center.  One of the first butterflies I saw was a Hoary Skipper ovipositing on turk's-cap.  Joined by some of the other birders we soon found a couple more of them.

A blooming fiddlewood was really attracting the butterflies.  Over the next two hours I saw 35 species make a nectar stop.  Most made only a brief appearance this Ornythion Swallowtail

and two Giant Whites

and a Theona Checkerspot

and this Two-barred Flasher.

Mexican Bluewings don't show much interest in flower nectar.  They seem to prefer sap and ground salts.

A Guava Skipper checked out the blooming plumbago.

A couple of battling Great Southern Whites flew up over the roof of the visitors center.

Back at the fiddlewood were a couple more Hoary Skippers.

and my first Ocola Skipper for the year.

Here's my list from the butterfly gardens at Santa Ana NWR.

• Giant Swallowtail 1
• Ornythion Swallowtail 1
• Great Southern White 3
• Giant White 2
• Large Orange Sulphur 2
• Lyside Sulphur 2
• Mimosa Yellow 1
• Dainty Sulphur 1
• Gray Hairstreak 1
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 5
• Clytie Ministreak 1
• Reakirt's Blue 1
• Red-bordered Metalmark 3
• American Snout 50
• Gulf Fritillary 1
• Zebra Heliconian 2
• Theona Checkerspot 1
• Bordered Patch 2
• Crimson Patch 1
• Texan Crescent 4
• Pale-banded Crescent 4
• Vesta Crescent 1
• White Peacock 1
• Mexican Bluewing 3
• Tawny Emperor 2
• Carolina Satyr `
• Guava Skipper 1
• Zilpa Longtail 1
• Brown Longtail 4
• Two-barred Flasher 1
• Coyote Cloudywing 1
• Hoary Skipper 3
• White-patched Skipper 1
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 4
• Laviana White-Skipper 2
• Turk's-cap White-Skipper 2
• Fawn-spotted Skipper 4
• Clouded Skipper 2
• Fiery Skipper 1
• Whirlabout 1
• Southern Broken-Dash 8
• Nysa Roadside-Skipper 1
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 5
• Ocola Skipper 1