Butterflies have been absent at Progreso Lakes the past two cold cloudy days but today the sun popped out and warmed temps to the 70's and the butterflies were back. A real surprise was this rare Variegated Skipper. These tiny jewels rarely wander up from Mexico. It was only my second for the United States and first for our yard, butterfly #139.
After being a rare visitor to our yard for the first five years, Zebra Heliconians have been present daily for the past couple of weeks. We had four today.
We've also had multiple Giant Whites daily. Here's three in one shot. They really like the blooming Dicliptera.
I thought this was an Orange-barred Sulphur when I photographed it. Then I noticed it lacked any dark orange above so I started hoping it was a first record Apricot Sulphur. But alas, it was just a big rambunctious Large Oange Sulphur.
Second best butterfly today was our third ever Band-celled Sister.
Last week we got our second ever Marine Blue. These are much more common farther west.
We also had another Mazans Scallopwing last week.
Here's today's list.
Giant Swallowtail 1
- Giant White 3
- Orange Sulphur 1
- Southern Dogface 1
- Cloudless Sulphur 5
- Large Orange Sulphur 5
- Mexican Yellow 1
- Little Yellow 3
- Gray Hairstreak 1
- Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 2
- Ceraunus Blue 1
- Reakirt's Blue 2
- Gulf Fritillary 8
- Zebra Heliconian 4
- Variegated Fritillary 1
- Texan Crescent 1
- Phaon Crescent 2
- Red Admiral 2
- White Peacock 2
- Band-celled Sister 1
- Monarch 1
- Queen 3
- Soldier 1
- White-striped Longtail 1
- Long-tailed Skipper 1
- Dorantes Longtail 1
- Brown Longtail 5
- Variegated Skipper 1
- Funereal Duskywing 1
- White Checkered-Skipper 6
- Tropical Checkered-Skipper 20
- Laviana White-Skipper 3
- Julia's Skipper 1
- Clouded Skipper 10
- Double-dotted Skipper 1
- Southern Skipperling 1
- Fiery Skipper 1
- Sachem 1
- Common Mellana 1
- Eufala Skipper 5
