Blomfild's Beauty at NBC, 7/12/26

I ran over to the National Butterfly Center this morning and took a look at the Big Board in the visitor's center.  They were up to a very respecable 78 species of butterflies for July.  Not bad.  I noticed Desert Checkered Skipper was missing for the month so I thought I would make a try for it.  I can usually find one up front if I dig through enough checkered-skippers.  It didn't take long before I found one.  I called Woody over and he was happy to see it.

Well, what to look for next?  Woody took care of that.  "Blomfild's Beauty" was the cry from the woods.  I ran in the direction of Woody's voice and found him by a bait log holding a big stonking perfect Blomfild's Beauty.  What a knockout!.  Picasso would have been proud of that wild abstract underwing.

That will be hard to beat.  I think it's the first of 2026.  I returned to the front garden and found a nice Brown-banded Skipper.  A pretty good butterfly but it pales in comparison to Woody's find.

Several fresh Theona Checkerspots were about.

Then I saw a big sulphur and the color was wrong for Cloudless or Large Orange.  I was right.  It was a female Statira Sulphur.  I got our first of the year a few days ago.

And a little later I got a male.

Woody had reported a Gray Cracker on the lower Hackberry Trail so I drove to the south garden and it didn't take long to find it.  In fact I foud three Gray Crackers.

Lots of Mexican Bluewings.

It got hot fast and I called it quits.  Woody found a White Scrub-Hairstreak and a Turk's-Cap White-Skipper to push the Big Board to 82.  Hoping for rain.

Giant Swallowtail 10

• Checkered White 3
• Great Southern White 25
• Cloudless Sulphur 3
• Large Orange Sulphur 30
• Statira Sulphur 2
• Lyside Sulphur 20
• Little Yellow 8
• Dainty Sulphur 10
• Gray Hairstreak 1
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 1
• Clytie Ministreak 1
• Cassius Blue 6
• Ceraunus Blue 3
• Curve-winged Metalmark 1
• American Snout 25
• Gulf Fritillary 2
• Julia Heliconian 1
• Mexican Fritillary 2
• Theona Checkerspot 3
• Bordered Patch 12
• Elada Checkerspot 1
• Texan Crescent 3
• Pale-banded Crescent 2
• Phaon Crescent 20
• White Peacock 15
• Mexican Bluewing 12
• Gray Cracker 3
• Blomfild's Beauty 1
• Tropical Leafwing 10
• Empress Leilia 2
• Tawny Emperor 20
• Queen 6
• Soldier 3
• Brown Longtail 6
• Brown-banded Skipper 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 5
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 6
• Desert Checkered-Skipper 1
• Clouded Skipper 12
• Southern Skipperling 6
• Fiery Skipper 1
• Whirlabout 3
• Southern Broken-Dash 3
• Eufala Skipper 1
• Mexican Crescent 3