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

National Butterfly Center, 12/7/25

The butterfly show continues at the National Butterfly Center south of Mission, Texas.  Cold fronts have been relatively mild with little rain and warm southerly winds send us more Mexican species.  The November visiting butterfly watchers have been replaced by a smaller but equally dedicated crew from across the country.  Nothing major on a warm Sunday.  This Guatemalan Cracker was new for the afternoon.

Another Silver Emperor was found during the morning.  This one was in better shape than the one I saw last week.

Two male Pavon Emperors were seen.

Giant and Florida Whites made a brief stop on the duranta.

Brazilian Skipper has a long proboscis which comes in handy when nectaring on tubular tropical flowers.  That thing is coiled up like a garden hose.

A female Orange-barred Sulphur stopped by for a brief sip.

The warm weather was flushed out by a cool front but is scheduled to return later in the week.  We are all waiting for the next mega rare butterfly.

Mexican Crescent at NBC, 10/12/25

A weak cool front came through and dropped the morning low to below 70 for the first time since spring.  With clear sky and lower humidity I decided to check out the National Butterfly Center.  Turned out to be a good choice.  Butterfly of the day goes to this worn Mexican Crescent.  I've been checking the Phaons lately as we were invaded by Mexican Crescents last year in October.  Previously they had been extremely rare.

The esperanza was suddenly filled with Doube-dotted Skippers.

A big Brazilian Skipper zoomed in for a sip.

A big dark skipper burried itself in an esperanza flower.  What the hell is this?

Could it be a Guava Skipper?  Can they show a tail?  It zoomed out and did not reappear so I went to the Mexican Orchid and sure enough there was a Guava Skipper.  And yes it has a bit of a stub stail on the hind wings.

Between the Tropical Milkweeds Gregg's Mistflower and Crucita there were well over 200 Queens.

It was a good day for White-patched Skippers.

It's been a while since we've had a Hackerberry Emperor.

A Giant White hit the Mexican Olives.

My first Monarch of the fall.

Last butterfluy of the day was this very fresh Texas Powdered-Skipper.

38 species on the day without any south wind.  The crucita is getting ready to pop.  Good times ahead!

• Pipevine Swallowtail 1
• Giant Swallowtail 6
• Gray Hairstreak 2
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 1
• Ceraunus Blue 12
• Fatal Metalmark 2
• American Snout 10
• Bordered Patch 6
• Phaon Crescent 20
• Painted Lady 1
• White Peacock 2
• Mexican Bluewing 1
• Tropical Leafwing 6
• Hackberry Emperor 2
• Empress Leilia 3
• Tawny Emperor 12
• Monarch 1
• Queen 200
• Guava Skipper 1
• White-striped Longtail 2
• Dorantes Longtail 1
• Brown Longtail 1
• Texas Powdered-Skipper 1
• Sickle-winged Skipper 3
• White-patched Skipper 5
• White Checkered-Skipper 5
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 15
• Laviana White-Skipper 10
• Clouded Skipper 20
• Double-dotted Skipper 6
• Southern Skipperling 3
• Fiery Skipper 15
• Southern Broken-Dash 1
• Common Mellana 2
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 8
• Eufala Skipper 12
• Brazilian Skipper 1
• Mexican Crescent 1

Progreso Lakes, 9/24/20

Finally got a few different butterflies today in our Progreso Lakes yard so I thought I would write a post.  We've had north wind for the past several days because of Tropical Storm Beta but now it's shifting back around to the south east and so we get butterflies.  This Mexican Bluewing was ovipositing on our Vassey's Adelia.

Ovipositing was the theme today.  I've suspected we often have Boisduval's Yellow because of our Senna pendula.  This one was laying eggs.

This banged up Tropical Leafwing was ovipositing on Low Croton.

We get few Mazan's Scallopwing so this one was a treat.  She was also bopping around on some small plant and may have been laying eggs.

This Brown-banded Skipper is on a Coyotillo but not far from the Barbados Cherry host plant.

A lot of the butterflies have been really beat up lately like this Tailed Orange.

Been a while since we've had a Brazilian Skipper.

This Guava Skipper is about done for.

Quens were out in big numbers today.  At least fifty of them.

Here's today's list of 36 species.

• Pipevine Swallowtail 1
• Western Tiger Swallowtail 3
• Cloudless Sulphur 8
• Large Orange Sulphur 8
• Lyside Sulphur 3
• Boisduval's Yellow 1
• Tailed Orange 1
• Little Yellow 1
• Cassius Blue 3
• American Snout 5
• Gulf Fritillary 4
• Bordered Patch 5
• Pearl Crescent 1
• White Peacock 10
• Mexican Bluewing 1
• Tropical Leafwing 2
• Queen 50
• Soldier 8
• Guava Skipper 1
• Brown Longtail 3
• Mazans Scallopwing 1
• Sickle-winged Skipper 3
• Brown-banded Skipper 1
• Mournful Duskywing 1
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 5
• Laviana White-Skipper 10
• Julia's Skipper 1
• Fawn-spotted Skipper 20
• Clouded Skipper 20
• Southern Skipperling 1
• Whirlabout 2
• Southern Broken-Dash 1
• Common Mellana 2
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 10
• Eufala Skipper 1
• Brazilian Skipper 1

Progreso Lakes yard, 12/8/19

After the dull early fall and equally dull butterfly festival, things have been taking off.  It was another warm windy day between cool fronts so I spent most of it in the yard, watering my native plants and looking for butterflies.  We've had several Florida Whites in our Progreso Lakes yard this fall but this was the best looking by far.

Here's another Mexican Yellow.  I'm getting them almost daily as of late.

Also saw another Boisduval's Yellow but I could not get a shot.  It might have been the same as this one from three days ago.

I love Brazilian Skippers and this is the first we've had in quite a while.

Ho-hum....just a Double-dotted Skipper.

Finally saw a Gulf Fritillary on our Corky-stemmed Passion Vine and she was laying eggs.

I saw this big skipper with white spots on the wings and it really had me going, but it's just a tailless Long-tailed Skipper.

I'm wondering if two Red-bordered Pixies may have come from our Guamuchil Pixie Tree.

Here's today's list of 44 species.

• Pipevine Swallowtail 1
• Florida White 1
• Checkered White 1
• Cloudless Sulphur 3
• Orange-barred Sulphur 1
• Large Orange Sulphur 2
• Boisduval's Yellow 1
• Mexican Yellow 1
• Little Yellow 2
• Dainty Sulphur 1
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 2
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 5
• Ceraunus Blue 1
• Red-bordered Pixie 2
• American Snout 1
• Gulf Fritillary 1
• Variegated Fritillary 1
• Texan Crescent 2
• Vesta Crescent 2
• Phaon Crescent 1
• Red Admiral 2
• White Peacock 5
• Common Mestra 1
• Carolina Satyr 1
• Monarch 4
• Queen 15
• Long-tailed Skipper 1
• Brown Longtail 5
• Sickle-winged Skipper 3
• White Checkered-Skipper 5
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 2
• Laviana White-Skipper 2
• Fawn-spotted Skipper 2
• Clouded Skipper 3
• Double-dotted Skipper 2
• Southern Skipperling 2
• Fiery Skipper 8
• Whirlabout 4
• Southern Broken-Dash 2
• Sachem 1
• Common Mellana 2
• Brazilian Skipper 1
• Ocola Skipper 1