Gold-spotted Aguna at Progreso Lakes, 10/3/17

Well, I got started a little late in the yard today.  It was cloudy with a threat of rain.  But it didn't take long to pick up a new yard Butterfly, Olive-clouded Skipper.  I found a second better looking one a little later.

I saw some more butterflies after the sun popped out and spent some time birding. Then it got cloudy again so I checked out the purple Duranta wondering what might appear before the approaching rain.  I saw a spreadwing skipper with a white band and recognized it as an Aguna.  I was hoping for Emerald but will be happy with Gold-spotted, a very good yard butterfly.

Then the rains came and I noticed a Queen sitting on the coral bean.  'Cept it wasn't a Queen, It was our yard first Soldier, bringing our yard total to 83.

Other good stuff during the morning included a Double-dotted Skipper with it's long proboscis.

And a couple of Turk's-cap White-Skippers.

The Cassius Blues were a little dark today but they're not Marines.

A nice looking Southern Skipperling.

If I look hard enough I can just about always find a Mimosa Skipper in the yard.

A new butterfly for the yard yesterday was this ratty Brazilian Skipper.

And the day before that we added a not so rare Rounded Metalmark.

And the good butterfly season is just getting started.

Giant Swallowtail 1

• Cloudless Sulphur 8
• Large Orange Sulphur 4
• Little Yellow 4
• Mimosa Yellow 1
• Sleepy Orange 1
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 1
• Western Pygmy-Blue 1
• Cassius Blue 5
• Ceraunus Blue 5
• Gulf Fritillary 2
• Vesta Crescent 1
• Phaon Crescent 1
• Pearl Crescent 2
• Painted Lady 2
• White Peacock 5
• Tawny Emperor 1
• Queen 2
• Soldier 1
• Gold-spotted Aguna 1
• Brown Longtail 2
• Sickle-winged Skipper 4
• Mournful Duskywing 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 3
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 8
• Laviana White-Skipper 4
• Turk's-cap White-Skipper 2
• Fawn-spotted Skipper 2
• Clouded Skipper 12
• Double-dotted Skipper 1
• Southern Skipperling 2
• Fiery Skipper 1
• Whirlabout 2
• Southern Broken-Dash 1
• Common Mellana 1
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 2
• Eufala Skipper 1
• Olive-clouded Skipper 2

National Butterfly Center, 12/17/16

With the weatherman predicting hot weather with strong southerly winds followed by a strong cold front I had a feeling it would be a good day at the National Butterfly Center.  The temperature hit 90 and the butterflies were as hot as the weather.  Best was this Blomfild's Beauty found by Mike Rickard.

Also present were my first Pavon Emperors for the year with a nice male showing some color.  A little later a female was found.

More Mexican Silverspots were present including an amorous male with an almost unconscious female.  I think her batteries were getting weak.

Malachites are hard to beat.... big and colorful!

Here's some more showy nymphalids: Tropical Leafwing, Mexican Fritillary, Julia Heliconian and Mexican Bluewing.

This buckeye looks a great deal like the Mangrove Buckeye in Glassberg's guide.

Some other uncommon butterflies were Curve-winged Metalmark and Marius Hairstreak.

Cassius Blue and a photobomb bee.

So as I write this the temperature has dropped from yesterday's 90 to about 45 and going down.  No more butterflies for a few days.  But temperatures are predicted in the 70's late next week so who knows what we may find.

• Pipevine Swallowtail 1
• Checkered White 8
• Great Southern White 1
• Orange Sulphur 1
• Southern Dogface 3
• Cloudless Sulphur 10
• Large Orange Sulphur 6
• Lyside Sulphur 20
• Mexican Yellow 1
• Tailed Orange 3
• Little Yellow 25
• Mimosa Yellow 2
• Sleepy Orange 1
• Dainty Sulphur 1
• Marius Hairstreak 1
• Gray Hairstreak 4
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 12
• Lantana Scrub-Hairstreak 1
• Western Pygmy-Blue 1
• Cassius Blue 3
• Ceraunus Blue 30
• Reakirt's Blue 3
• Fatal Metalmark 5
• Red-bordered Pixie 5
• Curve-winged Metalmark 2
• American Snout 400
• Gulf Fritillary 10
• Mexican Silverspot 3
• Julia Heliconian 4
• Zebra Heliconian 8
• Mexican Fritillary 3
• Bordered Patch 5
• Crimson Patch 2
• Texan Crescent 3
• Pale-banded Crescent 6
• Vesta Crescent 1
• Phaon Crescent 50
• Red Admiral 12
• Common Buckeye 5
• White Peacock 20
• Malachite 2
• Mexican Bluewing 6
• Common Mestra 15
• Blomfild's Beauty 1
• Tropical Leafwing 10
• Empress Leilia 1
• Tawny Emperor 10
• Pavon Emperor 2
• Monarch 6
• Queen 300
• Soldier 20
• White-striped Longtail 1
• Brown Longtail 10
• White Checkered-Skipper 10
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 1
• Laviana White-Skipper 15
• Fawn-spotted Skipper 2
• Clouded Skipper 20
• Southern Skipperling 3
• Fiery Skipper 25
• Whirlabout 1
• Southern Broken-Dash 1
• Sachem 1
• Common Mellana 4
• Eufala Skipper 15
• Purple-washed Skipper 1

Santa Ana NWR, 6/25/15

We've had some rain since my last post and the sun was out today so I made a trip over to Santa Ana NWR and saw some interesting stuff.  Best was a Rim Rim that zoomed past me and only allowed a glimpse through the camera.  It's the first I've seen at Santa Ana since the flood of 2010.  But this is the first wet year we've had since then so maybe we'll get more of them.

I saw both a male and a female Silver Emperor and the female oviposited on a Granjeno right in front of me. So it looks like more will be on the way.

Malachites are starting to pop up everywhere.

I saw four Banded Peacocks, some of them patrolling a section of the tour road.

A damp spot held four Cassius Blues.

After not seeing any Clytie Ministreaks for months, I saw several today.

A fresh Common Mestra.

Finally a fresh male Mexican Bluewing after seeing plenty of beat up females lately.

• Giant Swallowtail 3
• Great Southern White 5
• Giant White 1
• Cloudless Sulphur 1
• Large Orange Sulphur 3
• Lyside Sulphur 15
• Little Yellow 2
• Mimosa Yellow 5
• Gray Hairstreak 2
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 3
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 3
• Clytie Ministreak 4
• Cassius Blue 4
• Rounded Metalmark 1
• American Snout 10
• Gulf Fritillary 2
• Zebra Heliconian 2
• Bordered Patch 25
• Texan Crescent 1
• Phaon Crescent 8
• Pearl Crescent 5
• Question Mark 1
• White Peacock 5
• Banded Peacock 4
• Malachite 2
• Mexican Bluewing 2
• Common Mestra 6
• Red Rim 1
• Tawny Emperor 1
• Silver Emperor 2
• Carolina Satyr 5
• Queen 1
• Brown Longtail 1
• Texas Powdered-Skipper 1
• Sickle-winged Skipper 8
• White Checkered-Skipper 3
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper25
• Laviana White-Skipper 15
• Turk's-cap White-Skipper 1
• Julia's Skipper 1
• Fawn-spotted Skipper 5
• Clouded Skipper 5
• Southern Broken-Dash 2
• Common Mellana 1
• Eufala Skipper 2

National Butterfly Center, 12/14/14

Honey and I ran over to the National Butterfly Center this warm, windy, sunny day.  There were plenty of butterflies but nothing good until Jeff Glassberg found a Ruddy Hairstreak.  Unfortunately I didn't get a photo. I also failed to photograph the Malachite, so here's a pair of copulating Soldiers.

And a couple of White Peacocks in love.

This South Texas Satyr (AKA Hermes Satyr, AKA Carolina Satyr) has very small ocelli.

Tropical Leafwings are in short supply this winter, but this is a rally nice one.

I guess this is just a dark Cassius Blue.

Here's our list of 43 species.

• Black Swallowtail 1
• Checkered White 1
• Southern Dogface 4
• Cloudless Sulphur 4
• Large Orange Sulphur 5
• Lyside Sulphur 5
• Tailed Orange 2
• Little Yellow 2
• Silver-banded Hairstreak 1
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 5
• Ruddy Hairstreak 1
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 25
• Cassius Blue 2
• Ceraunus Blue 5
• Red-bordered Pixie 1
• American Snout 3
• Gulf Fritillary 8
• Zebra Heliconian 4
• Bordered Patch 2
• Vesta Crescent 2
• Phaon Crescent 10
• Red Admiral 8
• White Peacock 5
• Malachite 1
• Common Mestra 1
• Tropical Leafwing 2
• Tawny Emperor 25
• Carolina Satyr 1
• Monarch 5
• Queen 40
• Soldier 10
• Brown Longtail 3
• Sickle-winged Skipper 3
• White Checkered-Skipper 20
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 8
• Laviana White-Skipper 8
• Julia's Skipper 2
• Fawn-spotted Skipper 3
• Clouded Skipper 50
• Southern Skipperling 5
• Fiery Skipper 6
• Whirlabout 1
• Sachem 1
• Eufala Skipper 3