Tiger Mimic-Queen at NBC, I'm finally the hero! 1/9/26

During this amazing fall/winter butterfly season of 2025/25 I have been treated to seven lifer butterflies.  It's been a long time since I've gotten that many in a season.  And all have been found by other butterfly watchers.  I am reminded of Blanche DuBois' line "Whoever you are...  I have always depended on the kindness of strangers."  Now mind you, though I did not find any of these lifers, I was first to properly identify several of them.  And I have found some good ones that were lifers for others.  So I've been sort of carrying my weight.

But yesterday I had a senior moment.  I had refound the rare Black Hairstreak that has been around a few days at the National Butterfly Center and put it on the Discord alert.  I knew a few people present who wanted to see it.  But I accidentally entered "Black Crescent".  I had Black Crescent on the brain.  The day before I had found a very dark Pale-banded Crescent and had hoped it was a rare Black Crescent.  Also there was a questionable recent report of a Black Crescent.   Well, everyone came running.  Peter DeGennaro excitedly asked "Where is it?"  It took me a minute to realize my error.  Billy Webber was racing over from the nearby Oleander Acres garden.  "No Billy No!  Black Haistreak" I typed on Discord.  Everyone laughed and forgave me.  But having just turned 70, I was feeling old and not enjoying the moment.

So today I went for one last day at the National Butterfly Center before the approaching cold front.  The past two days had been very windy so we were all hoping something good had blown in from Mexico.  I was at the blooming spring mistflower by the palapa looking for the reported Malicious Skipper, when I saw a large brightly colored butterfly only a couple of feet away.  Bight orange and black tiger stripes like an Isabella Heliconian.  But the black thorax was spotted with white... like a Queen or a Monarch.  Tiger Mimic-Queen!  This rare relative of the Monarch, a Heliconia mimic, has been seen few times in the RGV.  I had a fun experience chasing one with Mark and Holly Salvato years ago at the NBC and I saw a second at Quinta Mazatlan.  This one was a knockout.  And it stayed all day, feeding on the spring mist flowers.  Everyone got to see it.

Wow!  That was a doosey!  So I left the happy throng and went to the mist flower cross over to look for another Malicious Skipper and I spied a very colorful crescent. The bright white hind wing band with an extension on the second spot spot screamed female Chestnut Crescent.  I put out the word and the happy gang came thundering one more time.

And then things went back to just normal spectacular.  Dennis Vollmar found this striking fresh Guatemalan Cracker.  I tried hard to turn it into Variable but the double blue rings on the hind wing ocelli say Guatemalan.

I found a Zilpa Longtail but no one else got it.

Then there were the usual Malachites, Silver and Pavon Emperors, Band-celled Sisters, etc that normally bring people runing but we're a little jaded this year.  Glad to have a few days off with the cool front blasting through.

Lord God Prepona! 1/7/26

(This title is derived from a 60 Minutes episode about the search for the near mythical, probably extict Ivory-billed Woodpecker.)

Back in November 2007, Terry Fuller found the first US record of One-spotted Prepona Archaeoprepona demophon at the then young National Butterfly Center.  A couple of weeks later Rick Snider found a second at nearby Bentson Rio Grande State Park.  In fact cell phone conversations proved the two were present at the same time.  I recently went back in time and read the posts on the old TX-Butterfly listserv.  It was pretty facinating to go though the daily discussions of this major lepidopteran find.  The dumbass professional lepidopterists were irate that these butterflies weren't collected.  One stated that from the photos, the second record looked like it had tong marks, implying that it had been captured and released.  No wonder the butterfly watching hobby is so far behind the birding world.  We are just now reaching the Ludlow Griscom and Roger Tory Peterson phase.

In the intervening eighteen years One-spotted Prepona is often brought up when local butterfly watchers chat about their most wanted butterflies.  (Along with the Common Morpho of course!)  We dream but it never happened.  Well not untill last Saturday when Mark and Joanie Hubinger found a huge blackish butterfly with a brilliant blue stripe across the wings while leading a bird walk at Santa Ana NWR.  The Hubingers often winter in the RGV, usually volunteering their birding expertise at the famous refuge.  They know their birds and a few local butterflies but this giant lepidopteran was strange to them so they sent me a text with a photo.  Damn it was a Prepona.  One-spotted Prepona was my guess but there are several similar species to the south in Mexico.  I put the word out on Discord and the Hubingers announced the find on WhatsApp.  A few hopeful butterfliers made the 25 mile drive over to the refuge but the butterfly was not refound.  The single open wing shot Joanie got documented the third record of One-spotted Prepona for the USA.

In the three days since then, the fall/winter butterfly extravaganza of 25/26 continued.  Billy Webber flew over from back east, Dennis Vollmar came up from Florida and Peter DeGennaro winged over from Tucson.  Plenty of other visitors and locals were present also.  We had good eyes finding good stuff.  Then on 1/7 Billy posted on Discord "Possible Orion Cecropian on baitlog on upper Hackberry Trail."  Damn!  That's a mega!  I've only seen one of these massive nymphalids.  I started off running from near the bird feeding station.

When I arrived, Billy and Peter were at the baitlog which held a massive brownish gray butterfly.  My first view was at an angle and it looked like an Orion.  I fired a shot.

I moved closer for a better angle.  This butterfly was too broad winged for an Orion.  And it was too gray.  But it looked familiar.  Prepona!  I got a few photos and the massive butterfly shot off.  My only prior experience with Preponas were of a couple I found in a researcher's trap while I was walking the Pipeline Road in Panama.

I ran to the Lower Hackberry Trail to check the bait logs and soon heard the cry.  Peter had found the Prepona in the "ditch".  A small group was taking photos.  It posed nicely and even opened a little.

Then it took of again but landed nearby.  I got a little better open wing shot.

I think this fourth US record of One-spotted Prepona was a lifer for all of the twenty of so people who go to see it.  It was my 234th butterfly species for the RGV with 230 of them coming in Hidalgo County.  I'm writing this on 1/10 after working the National Butterfly Center for nine of the last ten days.  A cold front is blasting though so it will be nice to have a few days off.  But it's only cooling to the 50s and we'll be warm again next week.  It will be fun to see who survives the cool weather.

Northern Faceted Skipper at NBC, 1/4/25

I took the morning to do some photo editing and managed to finally clean my SD card.  But a weak front went through yesterday and sometimes those will shuffle the butterflies around and new stuff can pop up.  And Mark and Joanie Hubinger found an ultra rare One-spotted Prepona at Santa Ana NWR yesterday which was not refound.  But if one shows up so can another.  So I eventually wound up at the National Butterfly Center again for a fifth day in a row.  Got my first Great Purple Hairstreak for the year.

Still a few straggler Red-lined Scrub-Hairstreaks around.  I guess that's what this is.

Peggy found my first Caballo (Potrillo) Skipper for the year.

A couple of days ago Peggy found a rare Variegated Skipper in the azureum at the south cross over.  I was looking for it when I found this Skinner's (Coyote) Cloudywing.

And then I looked down and there was another Northern Faceted-Skipper (Malicious Skipper) right next to me.  Apparently it had been found earlier by Dennis Vollmar but I had not been watching the alerts.  With the recent Nick Grishin et al splits, everything seems to have two names these days.

More warm weather ahead for the next few days.

Guatemalan Leafwing at NBC, 1/2/26

There's no rest for the weary.  I was at home trying to get caught up on photos, blog and iNat when the Discord bonged.  Dennis Vollmar had a Fitzgaertner's Flat in the ditch at the National Butterfly Center.  Damn!  I was hoping for some rest.  A few minutes later he posted it wasn't being seen.  Back in 2015 several were seen at Bentsen and I found one these crepuscular butterflies at Santa Ana NWR in the visitors center restroom. (I got interruped as I was writing this and spent several uneventful hours chasing butterflies at the NBC.)  But that was enough to prompt me to return for another day of butterflying at the NBC.

The flat was not seen again.  And actually it was kind of a dull day.  I did manage to find a Red Rim.

I was working the bait logs and had reached the "bird's nest" when a report of Pale-spotted Leafwing popped up on Discord.  I needed one for the new year so I started sprinting.  It feels good to stretch the muscles after all the slow walking and standing associated with butterfly watching.  And sometimes a few seconds can make all the difference between seeing a butterfly and being too late.  Terry and Chris came running from the sunken garden but I put on the after burners and skunked there asses.  With all the depressing craziness in the world these days it's so refreshing to see septuagenarians running and laughing gleefully!  A few people were gathered at a bait log when I arrived.  The Pale-spotted Leafwing had flown up to a nearby small branch and was posed knife edge to us.

That pale line runing to the wing tip didn't look like a Pale-spotted Leafwing.  I told them "I don't think this is a Pale-spotted.  It's a Guatemalan Leafwing!"  The leafwing flew and posed more favorably.

My only previous experience with this taxon was the beat up one at Estero a few years ago.  This one was really nice.  I moved to the other side to get it in better light and manage a brief open wiged shot.

Accordng to the specimens on Butterflies of America the mostly black wings are indicative of a male.  It flew again and gave excellent views.

Unfortunately a couple of jackasses, one of them a semi well known butterfly lister who spends a lot of time in the tropics, got within inches with their cameras, flashing for an open wing shot, and flushed the butterfly.  It was not seen again.  This will not be forgotten and their reputations will always be tarnished in the sight of those who were present.  Such an unpleasant way for a brilliant butterfly experience to end.

A lovely Malachite helped wash some of the bad taste from my mouth.

Starred Skipper at National Butterfly Center, 1/1/26

Happy New Year!  Well Dennis Vollmar did it again.  Because of our phenomenal butterfly fall in the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas, Dennis flew up from Florida a second time this season to look for vagrant leps.  Back on 12/28/21 I was present at the park when Dennis found the first US record for Tanned Blue-Skipper.  This morning he found another mega rare butterfly, Starred Skipper.  Back in October Terry Mortier found a worn Starred Skipper but no one else saw it.  However this fresh specimen put on a show for all who were in the park today.  It is a species I have long wanted to see and my 233rd for the RGV.

A bit earlier I thought the New Years bug of the day would be this Angled Leafwing.

This season bright make Pavon Emperors are not a big deal.

The same with Silver Emperors.

Young birder phenoms Ryan Rodriguez and Nolan Walker found a Guatemalan Cracker.

The Malachite a few inches away drew little fanfare.

The hairstreak show continued today with nine speces.  The rare Black Hairstreak returned and was the second best butterfly of the day.

Other hairstreaks included Marius and Silver-banded Hairstreaks and the charming Clytie Ministreak.

I forgot the beat up White Scrub-hairstreak.

This big Scolia guttata is a first for the RGV according to iNaturalist.

Warm weather continues.  Full steam ahead!

• Ruby-spotted Swallowtail 1
• Checkered White 1
• Giant White 1
• Orange Sulphur 1
• Large Orange Sulphur 4
• Lyside Sulphur 6
• Little Yellow 3
• Black Hairstreak 1
• Silver-banded Hairstreak 3
• Gray Hairstreak 1
• White Scrub-Hairstreak 1
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 4
• Lantana Scrub-Hairstreak 2
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 8
• Clytie Ministreak 3
• Western Pygmy-Blue 1
• Ceraunus Blue 6
• Fatal Metalmark 3
• Red-bordered Pixie 4
• American Snout 8
• Gulf Fritillary 5
• Zebra Heliconian 3
• Bordered Patch 1
• Texan Crescent 5
• Pale-banded Crescent 1
• Vesta Crescent 3
• Phaon Crescent 6
• Red Admiral 2
• Common Buckeye 1
• White Peacock 5
• Malachite 1
• Mexican Bluewing 1
• Common Mestra 1
• Guatemalan Cracker 1
• Tropical Leafwing 1
• Goatweed Leafwing 1
• Angled Leafwing 1
• Empress Leilia 2
• Tawny Emperor 1
• Pavon Emperor 2
• Silver Emperor 1
• Monarch 4
• Queen 25
• Soldier 1
• White-striped Longtail 3
• Dorantes Longtail 1
• Brown Longtail 2
• Starred Skipper 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 5
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 5
• Laviana White-Skipper 5
• Clouded Skipper 6
• Southern Skipperling 1
• Fiery Skipper 2
• Whirlabout 2
• Southern Broken-Dash 1
• Common Mellana 3
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 1
• Eufala Skipper 6
• Purple-washed Skipper 1
• Mexican Crescent 1

Hairstreak Extravaganza at NBC, 12/31/25

I thought I was done with the blog for the year, but 2025 held on one more day with an explosion of hairstreaks.  After a couple of days in the 50s and then warming up to 70 today lots of butterflies were enjoying the sun and looking for something to eat.  Jim Snyder from College Station found the bug of the day with our second Black Hairstreak for the December.

Second best were two Telea Haistreaks on the same frostweed.  These were both better than the scruffy one I found a couple of days ago.

Several Silver-banded Haistreaks were out.

Rare Red-lined Scrub-Hairstreaks continue.

Marius Hairstreaks seem to be increasing in numbers.

I saw only one Clytie Ministreak.

Gray Haistreaks have recovered after being rare for most of the fall.

Here is the common lowly Mallow-scrub Hairstreak.

And the even more lowly Lantana Scrub-Haistreak.  It doesn't even get to have a tail.

Finally the tenth haistreak species for the day was Dusky-blue Groundstreak.  My all time high is eleven in one day.  I missed White Scrub-hairstreak and Clench's Greenstreak that were both seen today.

The National Butterfly Center recorded 138 species in December after a record November total of 141.  Hot sunny weather ahead so we should get 2026 off to a good start.