Yturria Brush, 2/16/26

Recently Terry Mortier and Corrine McDonald each reported blooming Chomonque and a few butterflies at the Yturria Brush unit of the Lower Rio Grande Valley NWR west of La Joya so I thought it was time to make a visit.  I found the refuge extremely dry with many plants leafless.  A few were trying to sprout spring leaves and Huisachillo was starting to bloom.  As reported the Chomonques were in full bloom though looking ragged.  They had gotten enough rain last summer to pull off one last brave attempt to reproduce despite the dry fall and winter.  Though rather homely, this subtropical composite really attracts the butterflies.  Maybe because it's the only game in town.

Working the trail from the old parking lot by the freeway it didn't take long to find a Skinner's Cloudywing.

Chomonques are good at attracting hairstreaks but all I found were a few Gray Hairstreaks.

My targets for the day were Nysa Roadside-Skipper and Common Streaky Skipper.  I was hopeful when I spied a tiny brown butterfly flying low like a patrolling skipper.  Not my target but still pretty good, Texas Powdered Skipper.

Southern Dogfaces were out.

Then a couple more tiny brown guys.  Got my Nysa Roadside-Skipper!

My original plan was to go to the National Butterfly Center after lunch but things were going good at Yturria so I stayed for another perusal of the trail.  Another small brown skipper was feeding on Chomonque.  My first impression was another Texas Powdered Skipper but this one turned out to be a Caballo (the old name Potrillo is for the Caribbean taxon) Skipper.  First I've seen at Yturria.

Then a tiny black thing.  It's not every day you get a Common Sootywing at eye level.

Texan Crescents were a bit unexpected.

Variegated Fritillary is usually pretty common out in the desert.

It's hard to turn down a White-striped Longtail.

I didn't find the Common Streaky Skipper but still a good three hours with 22 species.

• Black Swallowtail 1
• Southern Dogface 10
• Cloudless Sulphur 1
• Lyside Sulphur 20
• Sleepy Orange 10
• Gray Hairstreak 3
• Reakirt's Blue 5
• American Snout 50
• Texan Crescent 8
• Vesta Crescent 3
• Phaon Crescent 1
• Empress Leilia 5
• Queen 1
• White-striped Longtail 1
• Coyote Cloudywing 1
• Potrillo Skipper 1
• Texas Powdered-Skipper 2
• Funereal Duskywing 1
• Laviana White-Skipper 1
• Common Sootywing 1
• Sachem 1
• Nysa Roadside-Skipper 2

National Butterfly Center, 2/12/26

I haven't posted in a few weeks.  We had a freeze here in the Lower Rion Grande Valley of south Texas with a couple of nights with 5-6 hours below 32F.  It wasn't a big freeze but it was enough to give a pretty good burn to some of the plants.  I would say maybe 10% of plants at the National Butterfly Center suffered some damage.  But we warmed right back up to the 80's and butterflies are starting to recover some.  Halfway through the month the NBC species total is 85 which is actually pretty good.  The main problem now is it is extremely dry with no rain in sight.

There were no major rarities on the day but two Brown-banded Skippers were unusual.

It was nice to see a Mexican Bluewing.  A pair were cavorting near their Vassey's Adelia host plant.

Little flowers attract little butterflies like this Western Pygmy Blue on Tridax.

The booming Elbow Bush also attracted tiny guys like Reakirt's blue and  Dusky-blue Groundstreak.

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I assumed the few smallish orange butterflies I was seeing were Sleepy Oranges, but the only one I photographed was a Tailed Orange.

There was another Caballo (AKA Potrillo) Skipper in the ditch below the blooming Azureum.  They tend to like shady places.

Common Sootywings have not been very common.

Terry Mortier from Wisconsin, who has been down in the Valley finding butterflies for the past four months, is off to Arizona.  We will miss his eyes in the field.  I may join him in a few weeks as I still need to see a number of the spring southwestern butterflies.