I was going to stay home and work on stuff but it was a pretty day so what the heck. I decided to run up to Falcon State Park and check the butterfly garden. Well it was really disappointng. Two weeks ago it was looking lush with lots of stuff blooming. But in the interim there has been no rain with daily highs pushing 100F so things were looking a little fried with few butterflies. Best thing I could scrounge up was this White-patched Skipper.
And a very intriguing Coelioxys cuckoo bee. I'm still working on it. Maybe zapotecus?
Little going on at the lake shore. I had forgotten it was Columbus Day so there were more than the usual number of people fishing and few birds. The only tiger beetles were the common Ocellated.
What to do? It was only noon. How about a run up to Zapata and check the city park? Last time I was there I found some blooming wire weed and the trail usually has a few birds. As it turned out it was also dry with nothing blooming. This Clouded (Marcellina) Sulphur was about it. But it was a new Zapata County butterfly for me. Not saying much.
Hmmm.... Maybe I should just head home and check the river at Salineno on the way. So as I left the park and pulled onto US 83 I found it... the butterfly garden at the Zapata Museum of History. I have vague memories of meeting someone somewhere... maybe it was at the National Butterfly Center... who was going to work on a butterfly garden for the city of Zapata. I had forgotten about that.
Well it was kind of a funky little garden, between the Museum and the highway, with a strange assemblage of native and exotic plants. But it was well watered and blooming and had more butterflies than I had seen all day. Lots of Queens.
So I started picking through things and building a list. All common stuff like Fiery Skippers.
And Southern Dogface.
And then I fod a pretty good one. My first Tailed Sulphur for Zapata County and my first for the fall. The summer form doesn't have much of a tail on the wings.
And then a Mexican Fritillary.
There was other common stuff and then I foud a good one, Brown-banded Skipper. As I expected it was a first record for Zapata County on iNaturalist.
I added a few more common butterflies to the day list like Funereal Duskywing and Huron Sachem.
All of these butterflies were in front of the Museum next to the highway. So I walked around to the side of the building where they had a few more plants. And there was my first Phaon Crescent of the day. I fired a few shots. Something's wrong. It just didn't seem right. Woops. The tell tale spot was missing. It was another Mexican Cresent! And it was a beauty.
I put the word out on the Discord butterfly alert and Berry Nall soon replied. He had been seeing Mexican Crescents all summer in Roma and Rio Grande City. He asked if there was any
Tridax around. I answered yes. He responded that all the local comunities with
Tridax procumbens in disturbed areas probably have a population of Mexican Crescents.
So this begs the question "How long have these butterflies been here?" They look like common Phaon Crescents so they could have been missed. We just started seeing them last year with the Indiana Gang's discovery of them at the NBC and Javi Gonzalez's find in Rio Grande City. Anyway it's nice to have them in the Valley.
Every time I head the name "Tridax" I think it sounds like something from Star Trek.
"Bones, give him a shot of Tridax."
"Jim, we don't know what Tridax will do to that green Vulcan blood."
25 species today at the Zapata Museum of History.
- Pipevine Swallowtail 1
- Southern Dogface 8
- Cloudless Sulphur 3
- Large Orange Sulphur 3
- Lyside Sulphur 6
- Tailed Orange 2
- Little Yellow 3
- Sleepy Orange 3
- Gray Hairstreak 3
- Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 3
- Ceraunus Blue 6
- American Snout 1
- Gulf Fritillary 4
- Mexican Fritillary 2
- Theona Checkerspot 1
- Vesta Crescent 1
- Queen 20
- Sickle-winged Skipper 1
- Brown-banded Skipper 1
- Funereal Duskywing 1
- White Checkered-Skipper 1
- Fiery Skipper 20
- Sachem 2
- Eufala Skipper 3
- Mexican Crescent 1
