Ornythion Swallowtail at Progreso Lakes, 7/3/20

I was busy this morning and didn't get out of the house to check out the yard till after lunch.  First thing I saw was this Yellow Angled-Sulphur flying into the giant Dutchman's pipevine.

A Double-dotted Skipper under the purple Duranta was the first I've seen in a couple of weeks.

Over on the other side of the house I found two more Yellow Angled-Sulphurs.  Javi Gonzalez has been seeing them at the birding center on South Padre Island lately so I wasn't too surprised to see one in the yard.  But three of them is something else.

Then a ratty Giant Swallowtail flew past me but the color was a bit pale and it didn't give me the right vibe.  Luckily it landed in a tenaza and proved to be an Ornythion Swallowtail as I had hoped.  Long overdue in our yard, this was butterfly #123.  With all the rain in Mexico I bet we get more this summer.

Here's the similar Western Giant Swallowtail

Mexican Fritillary is pretty uncommon in our yard.

Meanwhile a female Gulf Fritillary was leaving an egg on our corky-stemmed passionvine.

There's been good numbers of Queens and Soldiers around lately.

Mosquitoes were pretty bad today and that usually correlates well with butterfly abundance in my experience.  Hoping this hot Fourth of July weekend turns up more surprises.