West Texas Bug Trip, Part 2, 8/18-18/26

Well after cleaning up on my wanted tiger beetles, it was time to switch to butterflies.  In particular I wanted to look for a few of the Amblycertes roadside-skippers.  So once again I headed over to Balmorhea and down TX 17.  Since conditions were pretty dry I was just planning on hitting any flower patches I could find.  About halfway to Fort Davis I found a few flowers but mostly common butterflies.  I did see a few Dottled Roadside-Skippers.

And my only Nysa Roadside-Skipper for the trip.

And this really cool Rainbow Grashopper.

Probably best was this Ericrocis oil-digger cuckoo bee.

Not a lot else going one.  When I reached Fort Davis I turned onto TX 118 toward the high country. I was diapponted to find so few flowers.  I stopped at the scenic view picnic area for lunch. Few butterflies here also.  Best critter was a Crevice Spiny Lizard.

I made it up to the McDonald Observatory visitors center a little after noon and was happy to see the field by the parking lot with patches of some little Verbena like purple flowers.  And butterflies!  Sleepy Oranges are not too exciting.

But there were also some grasskippers.  It seems no two Huron Sachems are patterned alike but the shape and chevron of spots are constant..

There were more Dotted Roadside-Skippers.  Mostly well worn.

And then a funky colored grass skipper.  The greenish-golden underside of Slaty Roadside-Skipper is pretty distinct.  My only lifer butterfly for the trip.  I saw several.

I was hoping for Oslar's or Simius but the only other roadside-skippers I saw were Bronzed.

It was starting to cloud up so I raced up to the LE Wood roadside rest area but I was just getting started when the sky let loose with a real summer monsoon thunderstorm.  So I fought through the rain back to Balmorhea and ate another nice diner at Cueva de Oso.  Afterwards I ran over to Lake Balmorhea to check out the birds only to find the lake extremely low with few birds.  But checkig out the shoreline I found it seething with Ocellated Tiger Beetles.

I made my way along the damn and spied a gull on the far SW shore.  I raced over and caught a fleeting view of this immature Ring-billed Gull.

I got out the scope and started walking along the shore, checking out the distant Western and Clark's Grebes.  Then I noticed more Ocellated Tiger Beetles.  So why couldn't there be a few other species?  Since there weren't many birds I started sifting through the bugs and darned if I didn't find the first iNaturalist record of Thin-lined Tiger Beetle for Reeves County.  Must of been 8 to 10 of them.

The sun was starting to set and more tiger beetles popped out.  I was hoping to find Black Sky Tiger Beetle here as Tripp Davenport had found a couple years ago.  I got one.

I saw a piece of cardborad and turned it over hoping for a surprise.  Two Carolina Metallic Tiger Beetles shot out.  I chased one down for a photo.

And lastly I dug out both red and green morphs of the newly described Johnson's Tiger Beetle.

The next moring I decided I had accomplished my goals so I headed for home, taking the southern route through Sanderson and Del Rio.  I made a check of the Pecos River under the big bridge on US 90.  I always look here for Dotted Checkerspots.  The host Rock Penstemon was blooming but no butterfly.

Now that the water is a little higher in the Pecos River, Border Patrol has improvised a boat launch.  There I found my eighth species of tiger beetle for the trip; Punctured Tiger Beetle.

My timing was perfect as the high pressure system moved and now it's excruciatlingly hot out there in west Texas.  Hope fall comes soon.