Every early spring I see photos on Facebook of Henry's Elfin from east Texas and I think someday I will go up and see one. Well yesterday I got up early and was deciding where to go for the day. Brownsville Landfill for gulls? Salineno to refind the Crane hawk? Resaca de la Palma for that darn Cassin's Vireo? I also had been thinking about running over to east Texas to look for Henry's Elfin. They had been seen at Brazos Bend. Recently I've been entering butterflies into iNaturalist and learning how to use it and I though maybe I could find a closer Henry's Elfin. Well I put it into the search engine and darned if Henry's Elfin wasn't being seen in San Antonio at Hardberger Park. Weather look great for the day so I packed up the jeep and headed north.
When I arrived at Phil Hardberger Park I realized I had no idea where to look. I haven't put iNaturalist on my phone yet so I tried to remember where where the Henry's Elfin was being see. I remembered something about a native palnt garden. I new they liked redbuds but I wasn't seeing any. So I wandered around seeing only Red Admirals and a gray Hairstreak on the blooming Agaritas and Mountain Laurels. Then I found a lone scraggly redbud near the fenced in demonstration garden. And sure enough it held my lifer Henry's Elfins.
I had never seen any of the Elfins and they turned out to be larger than I thought, about the size of the many nearby Juniper Hairstreaks. I never get tired of these guys.
Gray Hairstreak seem to be about everywhere I go.
I also found a couple of Henry's Elfins on a nearby wild plum.
Red Admirals were abundant as they have been in the Valley this spring.
Well that was nice! I celebrated at Bill Miller's BBQ and headed home. There are still many butterfly species I have not seen in the state. Maybe I will get a few of them this year.
