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

Just a normal December day at the NBC, 12/14/24

Warm breezy days in December and visiting butterfly watchers always make a good recipe for rare butterflies in the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas.  So I ran over to the National Butterfly Center hoping for something good; maybe the Barred Yellow seen yesterday.  There was nothing earth shattering but some pretty uncommon butterflies posed nicely for photos like this Blomfild's Beauty.

At the same bait log was this striking Question Mark.

Uusally Malachites are found at the bait logs so it was nice to find one nectaring of the purple Duranta.

Still a few Mexican Bluewings around.

Tailed Orange feeding on a flame acanthus.

The normally common Dusly-blue Groundstreaks have been hard to find this year.

We have still not had a strong cold front yet this winter.  Lowest temperature has been about forty so butterfly so butterflies are still on the wing and no real cold is in the forcast for the next ten days.  It is prime time for more rarites to show.

National Butterfly Center, 11/16/24

It's prime butterfly season in the RGV and with strong SSE wind forecast ahead of a weak cold front, I put in a few hours at the National Butterfly Center.  Pretty good butterflies were on the wing but nothing super rare.  Best was another Blomfild's Beauty.  This one is a male.

Red Rim is annual in the Valley but usually is pretty rare.  Two today is a very uncommon occurance.

And both of the above on the same baitlog is pretty much unheard of.

There were three Marius Hairstreaks on the same Hamelia.

I like the angle on this Guava Skipper.  They have been more common than usual lately.

I couldn't turn down a Red-bordered Pixie.

After I had a couple of Curve-winged Metalmark sightings at Quinta Mazatlan while the dozen or more visiting butterfly watchers had seen none, Linda Cooper jokingly told me to find her one.  I didn't find one but she manged to find her own.

This beatup Band-celled sister has been around a few days.

Another woolly long-horned bee stole my attention.  Maybe someday I can ID it.

Today's list of 58 species.

• Pipevine Swallowtail 2
• Giant Swallowtail 5
• Florida White 1
• Southern Dogface 3
• Cloudless Sulphur 3
• Large Orange Sulphur 6
• Lyside Sulphur 2
• Little Yellow 5
• Marius Hairstreak 3
• Silver-banded Hairstreak 1
• Gray Hairstreak 3
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 20
• Clytie Ministreak 1
• Cassius Blue 2
• Ceraunus Blue 6
• Red-bordered Pixie 1
• Curve-winged Metalmark 1
• American Snout 5
• Gulf Fritillary 3
• Julia Heliconian 1
• Zebra Heliconian 10
• Mexican Fritillary 1
• Bordered Patch 1
• Elada Checkerspot 2
• Texan Crescent 1
• Vesta Crescent 1
• Phaon Crescent 5
• Question Mark 1
• Red Admiral 2
• Common Buckeye 1
• White Peacock 2
• Mexican Bluewing 2
• Common Mestra 10
• Red Rim 2
• Tropical Leafwing 3
• Empress Leilia 2
• Tawny Emperor 15
• Carolina Satyr 1
• Queen 15
• White-striped Longtail 1
• Long-tailed Skipper 3
• Dorantes Longtail 3
• Brown Longtail 2
• Coyote Cloudywing 1
• Sickle-winged Skipper 3
• White Checkered-Skipper 5
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 5
• Laviana White-Skipper 6
• Turk's-cap White-Skipper 1
• Fawn-spotted Skipper 1
• Clouded Skipper 6
• Double-dotted Skipper 6
• Southern Skipperling 1
• Fiery Skipper 2
• Whirlabout 1
• Sachem 1
• Eufala Skipper 5
• Brazilian Skipper 3

National Butterfly Center, 11/6/24

Yesterday someone photographed a beat up Starred Skipper at the National Butterfly Center south of Mission, Texas.  This is a Mexican butterfly species I have never seen so I raced over this morning hoping for a lifer.  Lots of visiting butterfly watchers are in the Valley now as it is vagrant season and so far it's been pretty good.  So old butterfly friends and I spent a lot of time periodically checking the crucita patch in front of the restrooms.  It was good to see them though we never refound the Starred Skipper.

But all the eyes were sure able to find other good stuff, like this Blomfild's Beauty.  It's been a few years since I have seen this large showy Mexican species.  Sometimes they get friendly.

Nearby a Gray Cracker posed on a pale patch of fungus.  I'm not sure abouts its camouflage strategy.

The shady patches of white plumbago were popular.  This worn Two-bared Flasher spent the morning there.  It's going to take me a while to start calling it Qian's Flasher.

Other butterflies enjoying the plumbago included Coyote Cloudywing, Large Orange Sulphur and a White-striped Longtail.

Here's the obligatory Mexican Bluewing.

Up front a Marius Hairstreak was in the crucita.  It's been a good fall for them.

I have a lot more photos but you get the idea.  I saw 69 species of butterflies today but I felt like I left a few on the table.  I later found out Linda Cooper saw 76 species.  Things are flying!

• Pipevine Swallowtail 12
• Giant Swallowtail 8
• Checkered White 5
• Orange Sulphur 3
• Southern Dogface 10
• Cloudless Sulphur 5
• Large Orange Sulphur 25
• Lyside Sulphur 5
• Tailed Orange 3
• Little Yellow 5
• Mimosa Yellow 1
• Dainty Sulphur 3
• Marius Hairstreak 1
• Silver-banded Hairstreak 1
• Gray Hairstreak 4
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 10
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 1
• Ceraunus Blue 8
• Fatal Metalmark 1
• Red-bordered Metalmark 1
• Red-bordered Pixie 1
• American Snout 20
• Gulf Fritillary 3
• Zebra Heliconian 6
• Variegated Fritillary 2
• Mexican Fritillary 3
• Bordered Patch 2
• Elada Checkerspot 5
• Texan Crescent 2
• Phaon Crescent 8
• Pearl Crescent 2
• Question Mark 2
• Red Admiral 1
• Common Buckeye 2
• White Peacock 5
• Common Mestra 5
• Gray Cracker 1
• Blomfild's Beauty 1
• Tropical Leafwing 10
• Hackberry Emperor 2
• Empress Leilia 2
• Tawny Emperor 100
• Carolina Satyr 2
• Queen 40
• Soldier 1
• White-striped Longtail 3
• Zilpa Longtail 1
• Long-tailed Skipper 4
• Dorantes Longtail 3
• Brown Longtail 3
• Two-barred Flasher 1
• Coyote Cloudywing 1
• Sickle-winged Skipper 4
• Funereal Duskywing 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 12
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 3
• Desert Checkered-Skipper 1
• Laviana White-Skipper 8
• Fawn-spotted Skipper 1
• Clouded Skipper 10
• Double-dotted Skipper 15
• Southern Skipperling 1
• Fiery Skipper 50
• Whirlabout 3
• Sachem 20
• Common Mellana 5
• Eufala Skipper 8
• Brazilian Skipper 1
• Purple-washed Skipper 1