We looked around for over an hour and saw some pretty good stuff but no Variegated Skipper. It was getting cloudy and the butterflies were getting scarce when a Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet called. Well we wandered off in search of that and then we wandered over to the hummingbird feeder were Rick had seen four species of hummers earlier in the morning. And near there he wanted to check out a patch of azureum and he commented about how it was nice that Ruben had mowed around the patch to make it more accessible. And then what should magically appear before our eyes? None other than the Variegated Skipper. After getting home I checked on Google Earth and found it was 257 yards from the azureum bush where it was originally found. Amazing!
Well it flew while we were trying to get the word out on our phones. In the process of searching we came across this female Chestnut Crescent. No one gets excited anymore this spring when they come across one of these rare butterflies. They are all over the place.
Nearby May pointed out a Band-celled Sister.
Earlier in the morning Rick and I saw this Brown-banded Skipper in the rear of the Tropical Zone.
Celia's Roadside-Skippers are common in the shady Tropical Zone.
Near Rick and May's bair log we had a pair of copulating Southern Broken-Dashes. The golden females give me problems. They can look a lot like a Common Mellana.
Red-bordered Metalmarks must be on of the easiest butterflies to photograph and they move in slow motion while meticulously searching for every little bit of nectar on a flower.
This Western Pygmy-Blue out in the parking lot was about the largest I've ever seen.
Somedays it takes skill and some days you just get lucky. We were sure lucky today.
