Good day at the NBC, 12/28/24

Took a day off to rest and get caught up on photos and work on the blog and stuff.  Yesterday was quite a day at the National Butterfly Center south of Mission, Texas.  I didn't find a lot of great stuff on my own but I manged to survive on the spoils of Mak and Holly Salvato's expertise and efforts.  Their best find was this Spot-celled Sister of which there are not many recordgs for the RGV.  I think it's my fourth.

There were also two of the similar but more common Band-celled sister.

Earlier in the day Mark found a Yellow Angled-Sulphur.  It was distant but that allowed my to fire away multiple exposures to get flight shots.

A short while later Mark called "White Angled-Sulphur!"  I thought it was a female and asked him how he made the ID.  But it was a male.

It took me a while but I eventually found Mark's Glazed Pellicia.

The Gray Cracker continued on its usual trunk.  It did fly into the bait log and allowed a closer shot.

Mark and Holly also found this cool Pale-spotted Leafwing.  Been quite a few this fall.  I crawled down under it and got some interesting shots before it returned to the bait.  I like that hooked fore wing.

More interesting flight shots included Florida White, Tailed Orange and a White-striped Longtail.

Here's the obligatory Mexican Bluewing and REd-bordered Pixie.

That's enough.  Here's the list of 64 species.

• Pipevine Swallowtail 2
• Giant Swallowtail 2
• Florida White 4
• Great Southern White 3
• Southern Dogface 3
• White Angled-Sulphur 1
• Yellow Angled-Sulphur 1
• Cloudless Sulphur 4
• Large Orange Sulphur 15
• Statira Sulphur 1
• Lyside Sulphur 10
• Mexican Yellow 1
• Tailed Orange 5
• Little Yellow 5
• Mimosa Yellow 1
• Sleepy Orange 1
• Marius Hairstreak 4
• Silver-banded Hairstreak 1
• Gray Hairstreak 2
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 12
• Lantana Scrub-Hairstreak 1
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 4
• Clytie Ministreak 1
• Cassius Blue 2
• Ceraunus Blue 20
• Reakirt's Blue 2
• Red-bordered Pixie 5
• American Snout 12
• Gulf Fritillary 1
• Julia Heliconian 1
• Zebra Heliconian 8
• Mexican Fritillary 1
• Texan Crescent 1
• Vesta Crescent 1
• Phaon Crescent 5
• Question Mark 1
• Red Admiral 8
• White Peacock 2
• Band-celled Sister 2
• Spot-celled Sister 1
• Mexican Bluewing 4
• Common Mestra 8
• Gray Cracker 1
• Pale-spotted Leafwing 1
• Tawny Emperor 1
• Monarch 6
• Queen 25
• Soldier 2
• White-striped Longtail 3
• Long-tailed Skipper 2
• Dorantes Longtail 3
• Brown Longtail 2
• Glazed Pellicia 1
• Funereal Duskywing 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 3
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 5
• Laviana White-Skipper 10
• Clouded Skipper 6
• Southern Skipperling 1
• Fiery Skipper 5
• Whirlabout 2
• Sachem 8
• Common Mellana 1
• Eufala Skipper 4

National Butterfly Center 12/25-26/2024

Sunny warm (hot!) weather the past two afternoon have prompted entertaining visits to the National Butterfly Center.  It's really dry but they still have stuff blooming and butterflies are still putting on a show.  Chris Balboni found this tattered but good looking Banded Peacock.

Statira Sulphurs from Mexico have been blowing through.  Getting proper exposure on these is always a battle.

It's been a few years since I've seen an Evan's Skipper.

Three Malachites were reported.

Cooperative Band-celled Sister.

Still a couple of Marius Hairstreaks around.

Mark Salvato was chasing what he thought would be a Mexican Yellow but when it flew up into an Ebony I suggested that I had never seen a Mexican Yellow go high.  Then it came down to a Turk's-Cap and turned into a Boisduval's Yellow.  These are making a come back from the freeze of 2021.  We were really hoping for a Salome!

Nothing but warm weather in the forecast.  A Common Banner was reported at Oleander Acres so keep your eyes open!

Red-lined Scrub-Hairstreak at the NBC, 12/18/24

It's been a good fall for Red-lined Scrub-Hairstreaks in the lower Rio Grande Valley of South Texas with half a dozen or more being reported at the National Butterfly Center.  Somehow I've manged to miss them all but yesterdaay I learned one had been present for a couple of days in the blooming Coma by the Conservatory.  So I spent quite a bit of time scrutinizing the tiny butterflies attracted to tiny but fragrant flowers.  Eventually I managed to pull out this scruffy specimen.  It might be the fourth I've ever seen.

Even scruffier was this poor Lantana Scrub-Hairstreak.

But this Dusky-blue Groundstreak was looking pretty sharp.

Mallow Scrub-Hairstreaks are everywhere.

Who doesn't like a Clytie Ministreak?  There were several in the Comma.

A Red-bordered Pixie hid on a nearby hackberry.

Walking the Hackberry Trail I found the long staying Gray Cracker on the same tree at the same spot posing at the same anlgle as a few days ago.

Here's a sharp Zebra Heliconian.

Nothing exciting in the the sunken gardens.  Best I could get was a Western Pygmy Blue.

The Discord "bonged".  A Pale-spotted Leafwing was on a bait log.  I hurried but just missed it by seconds.  Luckily it didn't go far.  What a striking specimen!

A cool front has dropped the temps into the sixties.  Not too bad.  Sometimes good stuff shows up after a front.  I've got my Christmas wish list!

Just a normal December day at the NBC, 12/14/24

Warm breezy days in December and visiting butterfly watchers always make a good recipe for rare butterflies in the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas.  So I ran over to the National Butterfly Center hoping for something good; maybe the Barred Yellow seen yesterday.  There was nothing earth shattering but some pretty uncommon butterflies posed nicely for photos like this Blomfild's Beauty.

At the same bait log was this striking Question Mark.

Uusally Malachites are found at the bait logs so it was nice to find one nectaring of the purple Duranta.

Still a few Mexican Bluewings around.

Tailed Orange feeding on a flame acanthus.

The normally common Dusly-blue Groundstreaks have been hard to find this year.

We have still not had a strong cold front yet this winter.  Lowest temperature has been about forty so butterfly so butterflies are still on the wing and no real cold is in the forcast for the next ten days.  It is prime time for more rarites to show.

Guatemalan Leafwing at Estero Llano Grande St Pk, 12/1/24

As a birder and butterfly watcher I am amazed by of the serendipity of nature.  As a long time naturalist in the Rio Grande Valley I know what's supposed to happen, but there are often surprises.  

This morning I woke up and tried to decide where to go.  South Padre Island with maybe some late migrants seemed tempting.  Maybe check out Delta Lake or Santa Ana?  In the end I decided to go west and walk the trail at Yturria Brush.  I was thinking about Sage Thrashers and towhees.  At the very least I would get in a good walk. 

Well not only did I get in three and a half miles of walking but I also saw seven species of sparrows, including a couple of Green-tailed Towhees.  So I was eating lunch in the jeep, exhaused but satisfied with the morning when the Discord "bonged".   Usually it's the WhatsApp or the GroupMe "dinging" to catch my attention, but Indiana butterfly watcher Phil Kelly moved our RGV Rare Butterflies alert to the Discord plantform.  So now I get a "bong".  And what a bong it was.

Kristy Baker was reporting a Guatemalan Leafwing at Estero Llano Grande State Park in Weslaco.  Hmmm....  There's been a Guatemalan Cracker.  Is that what she meant?  No, she replied it was a leafwing.  Dang!  Guatemalan Leafwing is probably my most wanted Valley butterfly.  I chased this cool Mexican leafwing with the blue upper wing surfaces a couple of times and came up short both times.  There are just a handful of records.

So I raced over from Yturria, about thirty miles total, parked in the lot at Estero and raced to the bait log near the park entrance.  About a dozen happy butterfly watchers saw me running towards them and they yelled "It's right here!"  So fifteen years after my first chase I finally get my Guatemalan Leafwing.  This one was missing half of one rear wing and had a chunk gone out of the other.  Now that's a leafwing!

The little bit of tail on one wing indicates a female.  Males have a smooth hind wing.  She flew up into the tree, found a sunny spot and opened up her wings.  The pale violet also indicated a female as males are much more dark blue.  I like that hook on the trailing edge of the fore wing.  A number of the tropical leafwing species (like the Pale-spotted below) share this trait.

She flew back to the bait log where she was joing by another leafwing, the rare Pale-spotted Leafwing.

Then Kristy yelled that she had the Guatemalan Cracker.  It's been a few years since I've seen one.  This is my third cracker species for the year.

The more common Gray Cracker put in a showing back behind the bait log.

I missed the Blomfild's Beauty which was seen earlier but I can't complain.  The Guatemalan Leafwing was my 227th RGV butterfly species.  It's not every day you see two Guatemalans!  Only warm weather in the extended forecast so full steam ahead.  What's going to be next?