Two-barred Flasher at Progreso Lakes, 11/24/21

There are still a dozen or so regularly occuring RGV butterflies that have yet to occur in our Progreso Lakes yard.  Perhaps the most overdue of these was Two-barred Flasher.  Five days ago Matt Orsie found the first of these fat colorful skippers for our yard but I didn't get to see it.  But with stong southeasterly winds ahead of a cold front, I finally got one today.  Unfortunately the 137th species for our yard gave a view of only a few seconds and I got the poorest of shots.

Stong winds usually blow in unusual whites like this Giant White.

It's supposed to be warm and rainy for Thanksgving tomorrow and then in the 50's after that.  So if I can't find anything tomorrow it may be a few daystill something good shows up.

Four-spotted Sailor at Progreso Lakes, 11/16/21

A windy morning with few birds and not much in the way of butterflies seemed like a good time to change the oil on our Forester.  Then after lunch I figured out a way to crudely repair the popped out bumper that had a broken grommet.  Well, I thought I should make one more round of the yard before calling it quits.  Maybe something had arrived on on the strong SE wind that was blowing ahead of an oncoming cold front.  As I walked by my Heliconia patch I saw a small striped butterfly or moth land in front of me.  My first thought was one of those striped tussock moths.  I decided to fire a shot with the camera....Holy smokes!  It's a sailor!  It was difficult to photograph in the strong wing and the dappled lighting.  My best guess was Four-spotted Sailor which is rare in the US.  Turns out I was right and this Four-spotted Sailor was yard butterfly #136 for our Progreso Lakes yard.

Two years ago we had a Blue-eyed Sailor in the yard.  I doubt many people have two species of sailor for their yard list.  Otherwise there wasn't much to see.  More wind scheduled for tomorrow.

Banded Patch at Falcon State Park, 11/2/21

Gee, I forgot to finish this post from our Texas Butterfly Festival trip to Falcon Lake State Park.  Best bug of the day has to go to the rare Banded Patch that has hung on up there in the butterfly garden for a couple of weeks.

Jalapus Cloudywing has been reported from several times recently from the butterfly garden.  Basically any Coyote Cloudywing that look like it has extensions of the rear wing gets called a Jalapus.  But Coyote Cloudywing can sit with it's wing slightly folded so it looks like it has a "tail".  Here's one with no tail and another that maybe has a tail.  I'm calling them all Coyote Cloudy wings.

I've always expected Desert Checkered Skipper at Falcon.  I finally saw some.

A very photogenic American Lady.

An unusually red Common Buckeye.  But it looked normal on the dosral side.

Certainly one of my more productive days at Falcon.

• Pipevine Swallowtail 1
• Orange Sulphur 1
• Southern Dogface 6
• Cloudless Sulphur 1
• Large Orange Sulphur 6
• Lyside Sulphur 40
• Tailed Orange 1
• Little Yellow 3
• Sleepy Orange 8
• Gray Hairstreak 4
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 4
• Clytie Ministreak 4
• Ceraunus Blue 20
• Reakirt's Blue 3
• Fatal Metalmark 2
• American Snout 10
• Gulf Fritillary 6
• Variegated Fritillary 4
• Mexican Fritillary 3
• Bordered Patch 1
• Banded Patch 1
• Elada Crescent 6
• Texan Crescent 1
• American Lady 2
• Painted Lady 1
• Common Buckeye 8
• White Peacock 5
• Common Mestra 2
• Tropical Leafwing 1
• Tawny Emperor 1
• Monarch 5
• Queen 150
• Soldier 1
• White-striped Longtail 1
• Long-tailed Skipper 1
• Dorantes Longtail 6
• Brown Longtail 1
• Coyote Cloudywing 5
• Texas Powdered-Skipper 1
• Sickle-winged Skipper 2
• Brown-banded Skipper 2
• Funereal Duskywing 3
• White Checkered-Skipper 1
• Desert Checkered-Skipper 2
• Laviana White-Skipper 2
• Fiery Skipper 2
• Sachem 20
• Eufala Skipper 15
• Ocola Skipper 8
• Purple-washed Skipper 1

Violet-banded Skipper at Progreso Lakes, 11/9/21

Eleven days ago Barbara Volkle, Steve Moore and I got to see a Violet-banded Skipper in our Progreso Lakes yard for a total of about two seconds.  There it was and there it went.  Well I saw another one today and it stayed for a total of 34 seconds.  That was the elapsed time between my first photo and my last.  And then it was gone.  This Mexican grass skipper is so distinctly marked that it doesn't take long to identify it.

The Tailed Orange didn't stay much longer.

We've had very few Julia's Skippers since the February freeze.

Still several Double-dotted Skippers around.

My bait station hosted a few Tawny Emperors, a couple of South Texas Satyrs and a Red Admiral.

A very fresh Cloudless Sulphur chrysalis. 

44 species on the day was not too bad.  I'm leading butterfly trips for the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival over the next few days so maybe we can come up with something interesting.

• Pipevine Swallowtail 1
• Giant Swallowtail 3
• Great Southern White 3
• Orange Sulphur 1
• Southern Dogface 1
• Cloudless Sulphur 6
• Large Orange Sulphur 2
• Tailed Orange 1
• Little Yellow 2
• Gray Hairstreak 1
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 3
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 1
• Ceraunus Blue 1
• American Snout 1
• Gulf Fritillary 1
• Bordered Patch 2
• Vesta Crescent 1
• Phaon Crescent 2
• Painted Lady 1
• Red Admiral 1
• White Peacock 6
• Tawny Emperor 6
• Carolina Satyr 3
• Monarch 3
• Queen 25
• Soldier 6
• White-striped Longtail 3
• Dorantes Longtail 6
• Brown Longtail 12
• Sickle-winged Skipper 8
• White Checkered-Skipper 6
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 6
• Laviana White-Skipper 4
• Julia's Skipper 1
• Clouded Skipper 15
• Double-dotted Skipper 3
• Southern Skipperling 3
• Fiery Skipper 8
• Whirlabout 5
• Sachem 3
• Common Mellana 3
• Eufala Skipper 4
• Ocola Skipper 1
• Violet-banded Skipper 1