Friday, February 24, 2023

First Florida Purplewing at Progreso Lakes, 2/24/23

I was watching birds in the yard this morning (butterflies have been kinda scant lately) with plans to do yard work afterwards when I noticed a Julia Heliconian.  I took some photos and then saw something on my crawdad trap bait station that was bigger than a South Texas Satyr but smaller than a Red Admiral.  And I though I saw a flash of white spots.  I had a pretty good idea it might be a Florida Purplewing.  So I fired a couple of shots and I was right!  The purplewing then flew into the Mexican olive tree.  I watched for a few minutes and it didn't come back so I ran into the house for some more bait (a couple of oranges and melon rinds) and it came back in for a few shots.  Most years a Florida Purplewing will show up at the National Butterfly Center but it's always a big deal.  They are common as dirt in the Florida Keys.  Florida Purplewing is butterfly species #149 for our Progreso Lakes yard.





Here's the sharp Julia Heliconian.


At this point I thought to hell with the yard work.  Time to look for butterflies.  I had irrigated the back yard the night before so maybe that might attract some stuff.  Stuf like this Zebra Heliconian.



A big white flew by but no photo.  But later it was on the purple Duranta.  Warm south wind often brings a Giant White into the yard.


Here's a lazy Westerm Giant Swallowtail.



Double-dotted Skippers were showing a variety of dots.



First Celia's Roadside-Skipper for the year.



This Funereal Duskywing is all dressed up.


Here's today's list of 40 species which is pretty amazing for February.

  • Pipevine Swallowtail 1
  • Giant Swallowtail 1
  • Checkered White 4
  • Giant White 1
  • Orange Sulphur 1
  • Cloudless Sulphur 2
  • Large Orange Sulphur 1
  • Lyside Sulphur 1
  • Boisduval's Yellow 1
  • Little Yellow 5
  • Mimosa Yellow 1
  • Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 2
  • Dusky-blue Groundstreak 2
  • American Snout 5
  • Gulf Fritillary 5
  • Julia Heliconian 1
  • Zebra Heliconian 1
  • Texan Crescent 10
  • Vesta Crescent 10
  • Phaon Crescent 3
  • Red Admiral 1
  • Florida Purplewing 1
  • Common Mestra 1
  • Tawny Emperor 1
  • Carolina Satyr 12
  • Monarch 1
  • Queen 2
  • White-striped Longtail 1
  • Brown Longtail 2
  • White-patched Skipper 1
  • Funereal Duskywing 1
  • White Checkered-Skipper 3
  • Tropical Checkered-Skipper 12
  • Laviana White-Skipper 1
  • Julia's Skipper 2
  • Clouded Skipper 6
  • Double-dotted Skipper 2
  • Southern Broken-Dash 1
  • Celia's Roadside-Skipper 1
  • Eufala Skipper 3