Resaca de La Palma St Park, 6/27/25

I've been spending more of my time lately on the west end of the Rio Grande Valley so today I decided to head east to Resaca de la Palma State Park.  The butterfly garden was a bit dry but the Ebony Grove Trail looked good.  I got some of the area specialties and missed some.  This Band-celled Sister was oviposting on Randia rhagocarpa.

I had a few frustating glimpses of Boisduval's Yellow but finally got one ovipositing on Senna pendula.  I always suspected that was the host plant but this is my first time to get visual confirmation.

The third local specialty was Mazan's Scallopwing.  Only males today.

Female Mexican Bluewings were busy laying eggs on Vasey's Adelia.

A Marcellina Sulphur (southwestern version of Cloudless) oviposited on Senna pendula.

I rarely see the Eastern Cicada Killer Wasp so it was unusual to see at least a dozen today.  This giant wasp had staked out a territory right in front of the visitors center.

Here's today's list of twenty species.

• Giant Swallowtail 3
• Giant White 1
• Cloudless Sulphur 10
• Large Orange Sulphur 1
• Lyside Sulphur 6
• Boisduval's Yellow 2
• Little Yellow 3
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 2
• Clytie Ministreak 3
• Rounded Metalmark 1
• American Snout 1
• Phaon Crescent 1
• Band-celled Sister 1
• Mexican Bluewing 5
• Queen 2
• Mazans Scallopwing 3
• Sickle-winged Skipper 5
• White Checkered-Skipper 2
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 25
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 1

Gold-spotted Aguna at La Puerta, 6/24/25

This morning I ran back out to the La Puerta tract of the Lower Rio Grande Valley NWR to see if I could get better photos of the Exomalopsis birkmanni.  The poor ones I had gotten a few days ago were a first for iNaturalist for this tiny long-horned bee.  But the patch of white brush where I found them was about bloomed out and there wasn't much going one.  On the other hand, the Texas Lantana and Cenizo were blooming like crazy so there had to something out there.  Well I didn't see much but quality is better than quantity.  My first Gold-spotted Aguna for the year was a real surprise.  Glassberg has then catagorized as rare but I see one most years.

The same patch of lantana held a Coyote Cloudywing.  Nick Grishin's crew has moved the taxon into the genus Cecropterus and now considers the taxon as a subspecies of Skinner's Cloudywing, Cecropterus albociliatus  Ugh.  Not a popular decision for many of the old timers but it probably makes sense.

Cenizo, romantically refered to as Purple Sage, is the host plant for Theona Checkerspot.  I bet we have a lot of them in a few weeks.

These copulating Bombus bee flies were interesting.

Several Heartleaf  Hibiscus were blooming but I rarely see pollinators on them.

Here's the tiny Exomalopsis birkmanni as identified by Paula Cole, author of  Wild Bees of the National Butterfly Center.  I don't think they are very rare.

Ornythion Swallowtail at La Puerta, 6/20/25

The east and west ends of the Rio Grande Valley have been getting quite a bit of rain lately but it's been spotty in the mid Valley.  Butterfly numbers are still low after the dry hot spring but maybe things are starting to pick up.  I ran out to the La Puerta tract of the Lower Rio GrandeValley NWR yesterday to look for native bees and encountered a few good butterflies.  This ragged female Ornythion Swallowtail was my first of the year.  They use plants of the family Rutaceae like Colima and Barreta as a host as does the more common Western Giant Swallowtail so hopefull she will find some to her liking.

Here is the similar Western Giant Swallowtail.  The easiest field mark is the spot on the "tail" which is lacking on Ornythinon.  The first thing I usually notice is the more pale coloration of Ornythion.  The wing patterns are different also.

A Pipevine Swallowtail passed through.

While I was photographing the Ornythion a young fellow with a camera approached.  It was the first time I've ever encountered anyone at La Puerta.  He said he lived just a few minutes away and then he described a blueish butterfly in a bush with white flowers. Wow it sounded like a great Purple Hairstreak in a White Brush.  He led me down the trail a short distance and there it was.  A bit scruffy but my first of the summer.

This Coyote Cloudywing looks like it's fresh out of the chrysalis.  Like so many its hind wing is folded a bit giving it the "stub tailed" appearance of a Jalapus Cloudywing.  I wish there ws a better field mark.

Beewise there were plenty of Protoxaea gloriosa out.  This one was guarding its territory.

They've also been getting rainin the butterfly producing country to the south.  Maybe it will be a good summer.