Yet another Glaucous Cracker at the NBC, 9/26/24

A couple of days ago I ran over to the National Butterfly Center to see what was on the wing.  As I signed in Luciano told me Dennis Vollmar from Florida was in the park looking for some of the good butterflies that had been seen recently.  I know Dennis from the magical afternoon of the Tanned Blue-Skipper from a few years ago.  Luciano informed me that Dennis had been there a couple of days and had failed to find either the Tailed Ceropian or the Glaucous Cracker.

I soon found Dennis on the trails and we did a round of the bait stations.  He told me he had seen a couple of Gray Crackers but nothing that looked like a Glaucous.  We didn't find anything of note and wound up back at the little loop north of the bird feeding station where there were several Mexican Bluewings.  I suggested we go to the Mexican Orchid patch to look for Onythion Swallowtails and as we headed over there I caught a flicker of movement on a tepeguaje.  I looked through the camera and sure enough it was a cracker.  And it didn't seen to have any red on the costal "s".  After a couple of minutes we got the tell tale underwing shot and yup, there was the magic white spot on black back ground on the seventh submarginal forewing cell.  Dennis had his lifer Glaucous Cracker!

We made another round for the Tailed Cecropian that had been present for ten days but it seemed to be gone.  Dennis left for Oleander Acres to look for stuff and I did one more round of the bait stations and found a beautiful Gray Cracker showing red on the "s" and making the ID easy.

So how many Glaucous Crakcers have been seen this September at The National Butterfly Center?  The question spurred me to go back and look at my photos.  I decided to key in on the right fore wing costal "s" on head down (usual pose) positioned photos of the three individuals I had seen, 9/12, 9/21 and 9/24.

So the three Glaucous Crackers I have photographed are three different individuals.  Then there was the initial male that Luciano found.  So at least four have found their way to the NBC.  There are other photos out there so maybe we can come up with a definite count some time.  In the past two weeks we may have already exceeded the total number of US Glaucous Cracker records.

More Good Stuff at the NBC, 9-21-24

It's been nine days since the Glaucous Crackers were found at the National Butterfly Center and lep enthusiasts have been finding other good stuff in the mean time while searching for the crackers.  I ran over there today hoping for a male Glaucous Cracker.  I thought this one was a male when I first found it but now I'm not so sure.  The wing tips are pale like a male.

It's bee a few years since I've seen a Tailed Cecropian.  This one really showed nicely.

Third rare species to be seen today was this Pale-spotted Leafwing.

I've never seen so many Tropical Leafwings, at least forty of them.  Here are five with a Tawny Emperor.

This Nysa Roadside-Skipper is the 94th species to be seen at the National Butterfly Center this September.  There can be lots of butterflies in September but this diversity is unusual.

It nice to be getting a few Zebra Heliconias.  They were absent all summer.

Lots of Mexican Bluewings too.

Looks like the rains in Mexico have produced lots of good butterflies so more good stuff may be on the way.

Glaucous Crackers at the National Butterfly Center, 9-12-24

I was going to get up early this morning and go birding somewhere but I didn't sleep well so I got up late.  As I was putzing around on iNaturalist I got a WhatsApp message from Ryan Rodriguez that Luciano Guerra had just found a male Glaucous Cracker at the National Butterfly Center.  This is a mega rarity and my only sightings have been in Mexico.  So I raced over and found Ryan and Woody looking for the cracker.  We put in a couple of hours and saw an uncommon Gray Cracker but could not find the Glaucous.  Here's a link to Luciano's photos on Facebook.

Well they took off and I was on my own.  As I walked by the maintenance shed I noticed a large butterfly on the bait log.  As I approached it flew up onto a nearby hackberry and assumed the head down flattened cracker pose.  I fired a couple of shots and thought this isn't Luciano's Glaucous Cracker but it doesn't look right for a Gray Cracker.  There was just something different about the pattern of the wingtips.  The light colored submarginal cells looked to big.  And no red in the "s".  Female Glaucous Cracker?  I approacked and got an underwing shot.  Sure enough the seventh cell had a white dot on the black area.  Dang I had just found a second Glaucous Cracker!

Eventually it came down to the bait log and I got a better underwing shot.  The standard field mark for Gouacous Cracker is the black area with a white spot on the seventh cell from the wing tip in the underwing.  It's the spot just above the hindwing in this photo.

Earlier the Gray Cracker had been quite cooperative.  Notice how the seventh cell from the wing tip on the underside of the forewing has a black area with no white spot.

It may seem unlikely to get two of the same mega rare butterflies on the same day but this can happen.  Large butterflies can produce a lot of eggs and if conditions are right this can result in a lot of butterflies.  A few years ago I found the second record for Variable Swallowtail for the United States.  The next day Mike Rickard found the third.  Mine was a female while his was a male.  Anyway it's shaping up to be a good fall for butterflies.