National Butterfly Center, 12/18/25

It was another fun filled warm December day at the National Butterfly Center.  Terry Mortier found another Blue-eyed Sailor in the sunken garden.  After seeing several this fall we didn't exactly run over to photograph it.  Eventually I got there and Terry pointed it out.  After a few frustrating minutes I finally got a decent shot and recognized something was wrong.  The two eye's were not surrounded by white.  And it had an extra band on top  Four-spotted Sailor!  This is actually a more uncomon species than the Blue-eyed which can breed locally.  I've seen a few through the years but it was a lifer for Terry and several others.

Nearby a Purple-washed Skipper was actually purple washed.

Here's a good looking female Common Mellana

Both male and female Silver Emperors.

It's hard to turn down a Malachite.

Several of us spend a good deal of time trying to get a decent shot of a nectaring male Orange-barred Sulphur.  We wanted a good dorsal flight shot.  But the butterfly, though right in front of us on a Mexican Olive, would only land for a second at a time.  So I would shoot in burst mode hoping for an open winged photo.  But, as the other day with the Red Rim, I was having trouple getting the color right.  So I fiddled with the settings and eventually I got a keeper.

Good day with 69 species.

• Pipevine Swallowtail 2
• Checkered White 4
• Great Southern White 1
• Giant White 6
• Orange Sulphur 1
• Southern Dogface 3
• Cloudless Sulphur 1
• Orange-barred Sulphur 2
• Large Orange Sulphur 12
• Lyside Sulphur 8
• Tailed Orange 2
• Little Yellow 5
• Dainty Sulphur 1
• Marius Hairstreak 1
• Silver-banded Hairstreak 3
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 3
• Lantana Scrub-Hairstreak 2
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 2
• Clytie Ministreak 1
• Western Pygmy-Blue 1
• Cassius Blue 3
• Ceraunus Blue 12
• Reakirt's Blue 2
• Fatal Metalmark 1
• Red-bordered Pixie 2
• Curve-winged Metalmark 1
• American Snout 40
• Gulf Fritillary 6
• Zebra Heliconian 6
• Mexican Fritillary 1
• Bordered Patch 2
• Texan Crescent 8
• Pale-banded Crescent 2
• Phaon Crescent 12
• American Lady 2
• Painted Lady 1
• Red Admiral 6
• Common Buckeye 2
• White Peacock 2
• Malachite 2
• Band-celled Sister 1
• Common Mestra 2
• Guatemalan Cracker 1
• Tropical Leafwing 6
• Empress Leilia 4
• Tawny Emperor 5
• Pavon Emperor 2
• Silver Emperor 2
• Monarch 6
• Queen 25
• Soldier 2
• White-striped Longtail 2
• Brown Longtail 3
• Two-barred Flasher 1
• Potrillo Skipper 2
• White Checkered-Skipper 8
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 2
• Laviana White-Skipper 4
• Clouded Skipper 10
• Southern Skipperling 1
• Fiery Skipper 2
• Whirlabout 2
• Sachem 1
• Common Mellana 2
• Eufala Skipper 2
• Purple-washed Skipper 5
• Four-spotted Sailor 1
• Mexican Crescent 2

Guatemalan Cracker at NBC, 8/24/25

Yesterday Tom Forwood found a Gautemalan Cracker at the National Butterfly Center.  Tom is the new Superintendent at nearby Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park and is a fine naturalist.  I ran over and Alex told me where to look.  It took about a minute to find the Guatemalan Cracker in the row of Retama trees where it was feeding on sap.  The common name comes from the specific epithet guatemalena.  Many butterfly common names are Anglicizations of the the Latin name.

The Brown-banded Skipper was still hanging out by the old visitors center.

Long-tailed skippers are finally showing after a long absense.  Here's White-striped Longtail,  Long-tailed Skipper and Brown Longtail.

This Red-bordered Pixie was not doing a very good of hiding under this leaf.  Many of the brightly colored tropical metalmarks can be found hiding under leaves,

Finally a White Peacock after months without seeing one.

Mexican Fritillaries were out.

I guess this is just a Common Mellana.  It was down in the "ditch" in the shade, atypical of where I usually see it up in the flowers.  But nothing else in the Mexican guide seems to fit.

Last butterfly of the day was this fresh Mournful Duskywing.

The Valley has gotten some rain this past weeks and it's cooled off a tiny bit.  It feels like fall!

• Pipevine Swallowtail 3
• Giant Swallowtail 5
• Southern Dogface 1
• Large Orange Sulphur 15
• Lyside Sulphur 10
• Little Yellow 5
• Gray Hairstreak 1
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 3
• Ceraunus Blue 8
• Fatal Metalmark 2
• Red-bordered Pixie 1
• American Snout 10
• Gulf Fritillary 8
• Mexican Fritillary 3
• Bordered Patch 10
• Phaon Crescent 20
• White Peacock 1
• Mexican Bluewing 8
• Guatemalan Cracker 1
• Tropical Leafwing 8
• Tawny Emperor 15
• Queen 8
• White-striped Longtail 1
• Long-tailed Skipper 1
• Brown Longtail 5
• Brown-banded Skipper 1
• White-patched Skipper 1
• Mournful Duskywing 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 6
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 20
• Laviana White-Skipper 6
• Clouded Skipper 6
• Southern Skipperling 1
• Whirlabout 2
• Southern Broken-Dash 2
• Common Mellana 2
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 6
• Eufala Skipper 5

Happy New Year from Progreso Lakes, 1/2/23

 After some really cold weather over Christmas, things seem to be coming back.  Some of my exotic plants got hit by a couple of days in the low 30s but the native plants seem none the worse.  Butterfly numbers got clobbered by the cold but after highs reached the mid 80s today, I was able to find 24 species.  It took a while before this Boisduval's Yellow slowed down enough for a photo.

There were also a few Lyside, Cloudless and Large ornge Sulphurs.

Turk's-Cap White-Skipper was a nice surprise.

This Common Mellana had a bit of a purplish iridescence.  I don't think I've ever noticed that before.

Nothing else really exciting.  Here's the list.

Checkered White 4

• Cloudless Sulphur 3
• Large Orange Sulphur 1
• Lyside Sulphur 3
• Boisduval's Yellow 1
• Little Yellow 2
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 5
• American Snout 2
• Gulf Fritillary 4
• Vesta Crescent 2
• Phaon Crescent 1
• Red Admiral 1
• Carolina Satyr 8
• Monarch 1
• Queen 1
• Brown Longtail 2
• Funereal Duskywing 1
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 5
• Laviana White-Skipper 2
• Turk's-cap White-Skipper 1
• Clouded Skipper 4
• Fiery Skipper 1
• Common Mellana 1
• Eufala Skipper 2

Progreso Lakes, 5/5/22

It's been hot, windy and dry at Progreso Lakes with few butterflies.  But there was an influx of humidity today and with it came mosquitos and some lepidoptera.  A real surprise was our third ever Marine Blue.

Our Frogfruits are blooming like crazy and attracting little things like blues, cresents and this tiny Julia Skipper.

Nice to see a Common Mellana.

Several Vesta Crescents popped up.

I like this boldly marked Large Orange Sulphur.

Unusual shot of a Little Yellow.

Twenty eight species are the most I've seen in quite a while.

• Black Swallowtail 1
• Giant Swallowtail 1
• Cloudless Sulphur 1
• Large Orange Sulphur 2
• Little Yellow 6
• Gray Hairstreak 1
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 5
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 1
• Marine Blue 1
• Ceraunus Blue 3
• Reakirt's Blue 5
• Texan Crescent 3
• Vesta Crescent 3
• Phaon Crescent 2
• Carolina Satyr 1
• Queen 5
• Brown Longtail 2
• Mournful Duskywing 2
• White Checkered-Skipper 5
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 3
• Julia's Skipper 1
• Clouded Skipper 4
• Southern Skipperling 4
• Fiery Skipper 1
• Whirlabout 2
• Common Mellana 1
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 3
• Eufala Skipper 1

Progreso Lakes yard, 8/31/20

We haven't had any rain for four weeks but hot southerly wind blew up some new butterflies today here at Progreso Lakes.  I saw this Orange-barred Sulphur for only a few seconds.  

This Florida White is first I've seen since Spring.

I caught a glimpse of our fourth Ornythion Swallowtail of the summer and latter found it perched in our brush patch out of the wind.

The much more common Western Giant Swallowtail is superficially similar and also brighter yellow.

Here's one of two White-striped Longtails.

I wonder if any of our Sickle-winged Skippers are laying eggs on our Colima.

This Common Mellana has been hanging around for about a week and picks a fight with every butterfly it sees.

This is only the third Mexican Bluewing I have seen in our yard.  It acted like it was laying eggs on our Vasey's Adelia.

It's been quite a while since we've had a Turk's-Cap White-Skipper.

There's a good chance of rain next wekend but it's gonna be tripple digits till then. 

• Ornythion Swallowtail 1
• Western Tiger Swallowtail 2
• Florida White 1
• Cloudless Sulphur 6
• Orange-barred Sulphur 1
• Large Orange Sulphur 10
• Lyside Sulphur 1
• Little Yellow 1
• Cassius Blue 6
• American Snout 50
• Bordered Patch 2
• White Peacock 2
• Mexican Bluewing 1
• Common Mestra 1
• Tropical Leafwing 1
• Tawny Emperor 6
• Monarch 6
• White-striped Longtail 2
• Brown Longtail 1
• Sickle-winged Skipper 2
• White-patched Skipper 1
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 1
• Laviana White-Skipper 10
• Turk's-cap White-Skipper 1
• Clouded Skipper 5
• Whirlabout 4
• Common Mellana 1
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 1