Fifty Species at Progreso Lakes, 10/28/21

A cold front blew though yeasterday and the northerly winds dumped a bunch of different butterflies in our yard today.  Best was our first Mexican Yellow of the fall.

Three Common Mestras were new for fall.

We get few Mazan's Scallopwings.

Still have a pair of Mexican Bluewings.

American Lady.

It's unusual to get Reakirt's and Ceraunus Blues on the same day.

Here's the fifty species for today.

Pipevine Swallowtail 1

• Giant Swallowtail 3
• Checkered White 1
• Cloudless Sulphur 5
• Large Orange Sulphur 8
• Lyside Sulphur 5
• Mexican Yellow 1
• Little Yellow 6
• Sleepy Orange 2
• Dainty Sulphur 1
• Gray Hairstreak 4
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 2
• Clytie Ministreak 1
• Western Pygmy-Blue 5
• Ceraunus Blue 3
• Reakirt's Blue 2
• Gulf Fritillary 2
• Variegated Fritillary 1
• Phaon Crescent 3
• Question Mark 1
• American Lady 1
• Painted Lady 1
• Red Admiral 1
• Common Buckeye 1
• White Peacock 6
• Mexican Bluewing 2
• Common Mestra 3
• Tropical Leafwing 1
• Tawny Emperor 10
• Carolina Satyr 1
• Monarch 4
• Queen 50
• Soldier 12
• White-striped Longtail 3
• Dorantes Longtail 2
• Brown Longtail 20
• Mazans Scallopwing 1
• Sickle-winged Skipper 8
• White-patched Skipper 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 8
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 8
• Laviana White-Skipper 8
• Turk's-cap White-Skipper 1
• Clouded Skipper 30
• Double-dotted Skipper 3
• Southern Skipperling 2
• Fiery Skipper 25
• Whirlabout 8
• Southern Broken-Dash 1
• Eufala Skipper 8

Broken Silverdrop at the National Butterfly Center, 6/30/15

A few days ago Dottie Lamolinara found a rare Broken Silverdrop in her yard.  As is often the case when a rare butterfly appears, a second was found by Mike Rickard yesterday at the National Butterfly Center.  As it was found in a blooming Tenaza tree I hope it might hang around.  So despite a line of showers approaching I headed over to the NBC and luckily found the Epargyreus exadeus after about an hour in the same tree.  I got a few photos and then it was gone.

I saw a couple of Long-tailed Skippers but I could not find anything about them to make them not proteus. Seems like no two are alike.

No doubt about this White-striped Longail.  

Mexican Fritillary used to be an almost daily butterfly but not anymore.  This sorry specimen was my first for the year.

But there's no shortage of Gulf Frits.

Julia's Skipper is usually outnumbered by the somewhat similar Eufala Skipper.  Notice the lack of a big eyebrow.  They can vary in color from tan to brassy to pale orange,

We are reaching the point in the year when the Reakirt's Blues seem to magically be replaced by Ceraunus Blues at the NBC.

Clytie Ministreaks are showing up too.

48 species today in 3.5 hours

• Giant Swallowtail 2
• Great Southern White 6
• Large Orange Sulphur 1
• Lyside Sulphur 1
• Little Yellow 3
• Mimosa Yellow 2
• Gray Hairstreak 3
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 15
• Lantana Scrub-Hairstreak 3
• Red-banded Hairstreak 8
• Clytie Ministreak 1
• Ceraunus Blue 1
• Fatal Metalmark 1
• Red-bordered Pixie 1
• American Snout 3
• Gulf Fritillary 5
• Zebra Heliconian 2
• Mexican Fritillary 1
• Bordered Patch 25
• Texan Crescent 1
• Pale-banded Crescent 2
• Phaon Crescent 6
• Pearl Crescent 8
• White Peacock 1
• Banded Peacock 4
• Hackberry Emperor 50
• Carolina Satyr 1
• Monarch 1
• Queen 80
• Soldier 5
• Broken Silverdrop 1
• White-striped Longtail 1
• Long-tailed Skipper 2
• Brown Longtail 20
• Two-barred Flasher 2
• Texas Powdered-Skipper 1
• Sickle-winged Skipper 2
• White Checkered-Skipper 5
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper20
• Laviana White-Skipper 10
• Common Sootywing 4
• Julia's Skipper 2
• Fawn-spotted Skipper 3
• Clouded Skipper 20
• Fiery Skipper 1
• Southern Broken-Dash 5
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 2
• Eufala Skipper 2

Overnight arrival!, 10/14/14

Lately we've had plenty of butterflies in our little garden but diversity was low and it was hard to see ten species in a day.  The recent cool front has changed all that and today our yard was invaded by 38 species of butterflies.  Best bug today was probably this Sickle-winged Skipper.

This is the first Pearl Crescent I've photographed in our yard.

I wondered why this Whirlabout was so big till I figured out it was a Sachem.

A big juicy Monarch stopped by for a rest.

A very colorful Gray Hairsteak.

There was sure plenty of romantic action on display.  Here's a Cassius Blue with a Ceraunus Blue, two Vesta Crescents and two Fiery Skippers.

Here's the list for today.

• Giant Swallowtail 1
• Checkered White 1
• Cloudless Sulphur 4
• Large Orange Sulphur 3
• Lyside Sulphur 12
• Little Yellow 4
• Sleepy Orange 1
• Dainty Sulphur 1
• Gray Hairstreak 1
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 1
• Western Pygmy-Blue 2
• Cassius Blue 2
• Ceraunus Blue 10
• American Snout 5
• Gulf Fritillary 2
• Elada Crescent 2
• Vesta Crescent 5
• Phaon Crescent 3
• Pearl Crescent 1
• White Peacock 1
• Monarch 1
• Queen 120
• Soldier 1
• Guava Skipper 1
• Brown Longtail 2
• Sickle-winged Skipper 1
• Mournful Duskywing 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 3
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 15
• Laviana White-Skipper 2
• Clouded Skipper 4
• Southern Skipperling 1
• Fiery Skipper 20
• Whirlabout 3
• Southern Broken-Dash 3
• Sachem 1
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 1
• Eufala Skipper 3