Panhandle Butterflies, 6/8/26

After a fun morning at the Gene Howe WMA east of Canadian in Hemphill County, I ran up to a road fifteen miles away that I was wanting to check in Lipscomb County in the NW corner of the Texas Panhandle.  I should have gotten up there earlier in the day but butterfly activity was so slow at Gene Howe that I wasn't too excited about it.  It was just a perfunctory check while I was in the area.  But four years ago James Giroux had some good Great Plains butterflies up there.

As I drove up US 83 through the rolling short grass prairie my Jeep's thermometer said 97F.  That's not good.  Soon I reached TX 23 and just a mile to CR CC which runs east-west.  I immediately saw a few thistles and my only Gulf Fritillary for the trip.

Not a lot else but across the road was another thistle, this one with a skipper.  Glassberg's guide shows this one to be a Green Skipper.  I've only seen a few of these so that was nice.

There were Gallairdia, thistles, legumes and other flowers I didn't know.  More flowers than I had seen on this trip.  So I started walking the road and found this big hairstreak on a Gaillardia.  This is one I was hoping for, Gray Copper, a Great Plains grassland specialist.

And just a few feet down the road I recognized Painted Crescent from my Big Bend trip a few weeks ago,

And then my lifer Fulvia Ceckerspot.  Actually I saw Fulvia Checkerspot in the Chiricahuas a few years ago, but that race has been raised to full specific status and is known as the Chiricahua Checkerspot.  This is the real Fulvia Chekcerspot.

After about a quaerter mile I ran out of flowers so I walked back to the Jepp and drove a bit more down the road.  Another Gray Copper was on the Purple Coneflower.

Then a big tawny unmarked grass skipper.  I'm pretty sure it's the endangedered Ottoe Skipper.  There were several over the next couple of hundred yards.  I'm still waiting for a corroborating ID on iNat.

And then a boldly marked Uncas Skipper, my first for Texas.

And more Green Skippers.  The Narrow-leaf Purple Coneflowers were really productive,

Then I glimpsed a little dark grass skipper and fired a few shots.  Based on habitat, the dark medial patch on the hind wing and the poorly checked dark fringe I think this is Oslar's Roadside-Skipper.  I was hoping to find one of these in the Davis Mountains.  I'm waitng for an ID on this one too.

This next skipper had me checking the guide.  I saw several like it.  I think it's just a heavily worn Uncas Skipper.

This hairstreak had me scratching my head.  The SM band is a little strange but the thecla spot says Gray Hairstreak.

Another Fulvia Checkerspot.

And then a smaller more yellow grass skipper with pale veins on the hind wing.  Another endangered prairie species, Aragos Skipper.  James Giroux had them at the same spot.

Another Uncas Skipper.

Another Ottoe Skipper.  This one has a faint spot band.

Grassland butterflies are threatened across the country by poor grazing practices and the plow.  CR CC is a nice little road that runs through some still healthy short grass prairie.  I think I picked up five lifers.  After two hours the temperature had reached 102.  Didn't seem to bother the butterflies but I was fried.

National Butterfly Center, 6/13/26

After a few days of editing photos I needed to get out and sweat so I ran over to the National Butterfly Center.  I was welcomed by this oddly marked Coyote (Skinner's) Cloudywing.  New for the June Big Board.  #77!

Only three species of hairstreaks today.  Here's a Dusky-blue Groundstreak.

Not a lot else going on in the front garden except for this Brazilian Skipper, my first for the year and #78 on the Big Board which is pretty good for June.

Again there were lots of Mexican Crescents around and no Vestas.  Something's going on.

In the back garden there were plenty of Mexican Bluewings.  Good to have them back in numbers.

Elada Checkerspots are back in their usual location around the restrooms.

And finally the Curve-winged Metamark show continues.  I saw seven today.

Supposed to be getting a good dose of rain in the next few days.  We can use it.

Today's list of 44 species.

• Pipevine Swallowtail 1
• Giant Swallowtail 4
• Checkered White 3
• Great Southern White 20
• Cloudless Sulphur 2
• Large Orange Sulphur 15
• Lyside Sulphur 25
• Little Yellow 8
• Dainty Sulphur 3
• Western Pygmy-Blue 1
• Cassius Blue 6
• Ceraunus Blue 2
• Red-bordered Metalmark 1
• Red-bordered Pixie 2
• Curve-winged Metalmark 7
• American Snout 2
• Gulf Fritillary 6
• Zebra Heliconian 1
• Bordered Patch 6
• Elada Checkerspot 10
• Texan Crescent 6
• Pale-banded Crescent 100
• Phaon Crescent 5
• White Peacock 4
• Mexican Bluewing 10
• Hackberry Emperor 1
• Queen 6
• Soldier 4
• White-striped Longtail 2
• Brown Longtail 6
• Coyote Cloudywing 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 5
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 12
• Laviana White-Skipper 3
• Julia's Skipper 1
• Clouded Skipper 6
• Double-dotted Skipper 4
• Southern Skipperling 5
• Whirlabout 6
• Southern Broken-Dash 8
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 4
• Eufala Skipper 5
• Brazilian Skipper 1
• Mexican Crescent 10

Panhandle Tiger Beetles, 6/7/26

Two years ago I got hooked on tiger beetles as insect loving naturalists often do.  Tiger beetles are members of the Family Cicindelidae, within the Superfamily Caraboidea.  Actually I've been aware of these little predatory beetles for years.  I photographed my first Six-spotted Tiger Beetle back in 2011 at Boykin Springs in east Texas while while on an ode trip. (Sometimes they are spotless.)

Being a tiger beetle lister is a little different from being a bird or butterfly lister.  There's far few species to deal with.  Texas has only 55 species of tiger beetles on iNaturalist.  After two years I've seen twenty one species in Texas and twenty eight in total.  My goal for the year was to add six new species to my state list.  Before this trip I had seen two new species this year.

When I have my coffee in the morning I like to check out what's new on iNat.  Besides checking my mail and new records approvals, I also like to see what butterflies or maybe tiger beetles have been seen.  Saturday morning I was checking the new tiger beetles from the past couple of days and noticed that Jeff Black, top tiger beetle lister for Texas on iNat, had found some good stuff north of Abilene on the Salt Fork of the Brazos.  Those finds included, the uber rare for Texas, Wetsalts Tiger Beetle and several members of the genus Ellipsoptera among maybe eight species total.  Wow!  Those are some species I'd like to see.  I looked at the clock and thought I could be on my way in a couple of hours.  I hit the road at 10:30 am.  As an old bird chaser, spontaneous trips are no big deal.  Strike while the iron is hot!

The 460 mile drive to San Angelo where I overnighted wasn't too bad.  Saturday traffic was light on I-10.  I just missed a storm as the road was wet and angry clouds were in the distance as I drove into town.  Sunday morning I had another couple of hours to go.  I headed north to the dying town of Aspermont.  Along the way I observed lots of wet fields and freshly filled ponds.  It had rained hard.  I hoped all the rain was south of my destination as I was planning to walk the dry salty flats of the Salt Fork of the Brazos.

At Aspermont I veered up to the small village of Peacock and then took obscure dirt road CR 437.  As I rounded a corner I saw the river and my heart sank.  It was full of muddy red water.  After 600 miles of driving my plans were shot.

I didn't know what to do.  This was not what I had planned on.  The salt flats and sand bars were all under water.  Then I saw a little sand bar about 200 feet down stream.  I thought to myself  "If I was a little homeless tiger beetle I would be on that sand bar."

So I scrambled down the bank and under the old abandoned iron bridge, jumped the fence and bushwacked over to the sand bar.  That wasn't too bad.  And there were the tiger beetles!  First an Ellipsoptera, then a Cream-edged and then...  Wetsalts Tiger Beetle!  This salt loving species is common in the salty playas of the southwest but this is the only known location for Cicindelidia hemorrhagica in Texas.

Later I found a copulating pair.

There were several red Ellipsoptera that I am calling cuprascens but Jeff Black called them macra.  I will wait to see what the tiger beetle experts say on iNaturalist. (Morning edit:  Alex Harman agrees with Jeff that these are Panhandle Tiger Beetles Ellipsoptera macra fluviatilis.)  I think he might be using the hook on the central maculation for the ID.

But Alex also agrees with me that this one is Coppery Tiger Beetle Ellipsoptera cuprascens.  He is the World's expert on these guys, having chased thousands of them around Oklahoma.

The Cream-edged Tiger Beetles we have in the Valley are either brown or green.  The ones out here on the red substrate are a deep red.

Then I found a smaller Ellipsoptera with an incomplete humeral maculation.  It's gotta be nevadica and Alex agrees.

The little sand bar was only about 50 ft by 20 ft but the action was fast and furias.  I don't know how I failed to notice this one as I was photographing.  The longer, thinner maculations clearly say Ellipsoptera sperata, Rio Grande Tiger Beetle.  This is the inquisitor subspecies.

Another one I failed to notice as I was shooting was this common Hairy-necked Tiger Beetle.

It took a while but I finally found the common salt loving Eunota togarna, White-cloaked Tiger Beetle.

And the uber common Ocellated Tiger Beetle.  This is our most common species along Texas shorelines.

After an hour of sensory overload and an amazing nine species of tiger beetles on this tiny sand bar I decided it was time to move on.  So I headed farther north hoping for Great Plains butterflies but not a lot was goin on.  It was pretty dry up there.  I spent the night on Route 66 in Shamrock.

The next moring I was at the Gene Howe Wildlife Management Area.  The entrance road was lined with Soapberry Trees.  I checked so many of these from the Hill Country to the Panhandle and could not find a single Soapbery Hairstreak.  Here's a Marine Blue up in the blooming Soapberry tree.

A litle ways up the road I found a nice sandy track running though native prairie.  I didn't realize they had Mexican Yellows up here.

I walked up a hill on a deep sand track and saw a bug scurry off.  I fired a quick shot and was rewarded with a Big Sand Tiger Beetle.  Cicindela formosa occurs in sandy areas from the east slope of the Rockies to the East Coast.  This is the nominate subspecies.  I love these big bruisers.

Then the much smaller brightly colored sand-loving Festive Tiger Beetle.

A look down the hill at the Soapberry grove where I would eat lunch.

Lots of wildflowers in the Soapberry grove but few butterflies.  I did find a couple of neat bees.  I have not tried to ID this one yet.

But my recent experiences in the RGV with Epimilissodes obliquus made this ID easy.

And a cool little red Nomada cuckoo bee of some kind.

It was warming up fast so I headed to my primary destination, a little dirt road up in Lipscomb County where James Giroux found some fantastic butterflies a few years ago.  Jeep said 97F as I appraoched.  I hoped it wasn't too hot for butterflies.  Turned out they love it that way!  I'm going to save this amazing little road for another post but I will add one additional tiger beetle.  This common Punctured TB was a surprise away from water.

I finished my little four day 1600 mile excursion with twelve species of tiger beetles including five lifers.  Far better than I had hoped!  Now I have to edit some butterfly photos.