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 male 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

Angled Leafwing at National Butterfly Center, 2-9-25

We had a very hard freeze in the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas in mid January with temperatures dropping to the mid twenties and staying below freezing for ten hours.  Two weeks ago I went over to the National Butterfly Center and found most plants heavily damaged.  A couple of hours turned up only four species of butterflies.  A return yesterday after a couple of weeks of warm weather found things looking much better.  Despite the very dry conditions, plants are leafing out as they do in February down here.  White Brush and Elbo Bush were blooming and attracting butterflies.  Best of my 25 species was this fresh Angled Leafwing.  I wonder if it's an offspring from the ones we had last November.

Tropical Leafwings were also out.

I found five pecies of hairstreaks but missed the Lacey's seen the day before. Here's a Silver-banded Hairstreak.

This Clytie Ministreak was lacking the red pigments making me wonder if it was something more exotic.  Nothing from Mexico in the field guide matched it.  It's just a weird Clytie.

Here's a more normal winter form Clytie.

The Dusky-blue Goundstreaks were looking sharp.

Even the common Gray Hairstreaks were nice to see after the recent freeze.

Orange Sulphur is always one of the first spring butterflies across Texas.

So spring is on the way and things are looking up.

• Orange Sulphur 1
• Lyside Sulphur 5
• Little Yellow 5
• Silver-banded Hairstreak 1
• Gray Hairstreak 6
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 3
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 5
• Clytie Ministreak 4
• Ceraunus Blue 3
• Reakirt's Blue 6
• Fatal Metalmark 5
• American Snout 20
• Phaon Crescent 2
• Red Admiral 6
• Mexican Bluewing 2
• Tropical Leafwing 6
• Angled Leafwing 1
• Brown Longtail 1
• Funereal Duskywing 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 5
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 5
• Laviana White-Skipper 2
• Common Sootywing 1
• Southern Skipperling 1
• Fiery Skipper 1

Angled Leafwings at National Butterfly Center, 2/11/17

Lorna Graham found an Angled Leafwing yesterday afternoon at the National Butterfly Center and no one else got to see it.  The only ones I have ever seen were back in  Dec. 2012.  But not to worry as the butterfly was refound today.

And for good measure I found another one shortly thereafter.  It's amazing how often rare butterflies show up in multiples.

It's been awhile since I've seen a Common Streaky-Skipper at the NBC.

Prior to last week I had only seen three Chestnut Crescents.  Now I've seen four in four days.  With both sexes being seen, I wonder if they will leave any caterpillars behind.

My afternoon started with this Band-celled Sister.

And yet another Double-dotted Skipper.

Celia's Roadside-Skipper are starting to appear again.

The winter form of South Texas Satyr has really tiny occelli.

NABA Sightings won't allow me to copy and past my list for the day so you have to go there now to see it.

https://sightings.naba.org/