Amazing Summer Hairstreak Day at NBC, 6/3/26

 After doing some bee stuff for a couple of days I was back at the National Butterfly Center yesterday to get the June list going.  The new June Big Board was at 37 species for the month when I arrived and was at 60 when I finished so it was a pretty good day.  A little Common Sootywing out front got me off to a good start.

After signing in, I went out the back door to the garden and quickly found a striking fresh guava Skipper.

And then the hairstreak show started.  It's been a few months since the last Marius Hairstreak.

Likewise for this Ruddy Hairstreak.  I don't know why my photos were off on this one.

A common but still striking Gray Hairstreakwas nearby.

Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak is usually the most common.

My only Dusky-blue Groundstreak brought the morning hairstreak total to five species.  Pretty good for June.

I should be able to find a Clytie Ministeak.  And I did find one on the frostweed.

And then I found another ministreak but this one had a black eye and was missing some red spots.  Gray Ministreak!  There were two of them.  We had one just a month ago.  Hairstreak #7 for the day.

I put the Gray Ministreak on the Dischord alert and Stephanie came running after a bit.  It was a lifer for her.  She's usually too busy running the NBC to get to chase butterflies.  And while we were standing there by the frostweed this big stonking Clench's Greensteak magically appeared.  It was also a lifer for Stephanie.  I think we're up to at least eight of them in the last month.

Eight species of hairstreaks in June is pretty incredible.  I wanted more but got sidetracked by this Banded Cucumber Beetle.

Then a brief look at a Lantana Scrub-Hairstreak.  #9 for the day and all before lunch!.

After luch I thought there was a good possiblity for Silver-banded Hairstreak or Red-lined Scrub-Hairstreak in the balloon vine but it was not to be.  Red-bordered and Curve-winged Metalmarks were nice.

After lunch it gets hot fast and the humidity was stifling.  So I was done for the day.  Along with the nine hairstreaks I saw four species of blues whitch makes for a total of 13 Lycaenids!  I think that's my all time high.

Amazing 54 species!

• Giant Swallowtail 5
• Checkered White 20
• Great Southern White 6
• Large Orange Sulphur 6
• Lyside Sulphur +s
• Little Yellow 5
• Mimosa Yellow 1
• Dainty Sulphur 3
• Marius Hairstreak 1
• Clench's Greenstreak 1
• Gray Hairstreak 5
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 8
• Lantana Scrub-Hairstreak 1
• Ruddy Hairstreak 1
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 1
• Clytie Ministreak 3
• Gray Ministreak 2
• Western Pygmy-Blue 1
• Cassius Blue 5
• Ceraunus Blue 6
• Reakirt's Blue 1
• Red-bordered Metalmark 1
• Curve-winged Metalmark 3
• American Snout 2
• Gulf Fritillary 8
• Mexican Fritillary 3
• Bordered Patch 10
• Texan Crescent 20
• Pale-banded Crescent 10
• Phaon Crescent 8
• Red Admiral 1
• White Peacock 6
• Mexican Bluewing 5
• Tropical Leafwing 1
• Tawny Emperor 12
• Queen 12
• Soldier 6
• Guava Skipper 1
• Brown Longtail 6
• White Checkered-Skipper 4
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 10
• Desert Checkered-Skipper 1
• Laviana White-Skipper 5
• Common Sootywing 1
• Clouded Skipper 20
• Double-dotted Skipper 6
• Southern Skipperling 2
• Fiery Skipper 2
• Whirlabout 8
• Southern Broken-Dash 15
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 12
• Eufala Skipper 8
• Purple-washed Skipper 1
• Mexican Crescent 15

Yturria Brush, 2/16/26

Recently Terry Mortier and Corrine McDonald each reported blooming Chomonque and a few butterflies at the Yturria Brush unit of the Lower Rio Grande Valley NWR west of La Joya so I thought it was time to make a visit.  I found the refuge extremely dry with many plants leafless.  A few were trying to sprout spring leaves and Huisachillo was starting to bloom.  As reported the Chomonques were in full bloom though looking ragged.  They had gotten enough rain last summer to pull off one last brave attempt to reproduce despite the dry fall and winter.  Though rather homely, this subtropical composite really attracts the butterflies.  Maybe because it's the only game in town.

Working the trail from the old parking lot by the freeway it didn't take long to find a Skinner's Cloudywing.

Chomonques are good at attracting hairstreaks but all I found were a few Gray Hairstreaks.

My targets for the day were Nysa Roadside-Skipper and Common Streaky Skipper.  I was hopeful when I spied a tiny brown butterfly flying low like a patrolling skipper.  Not my target but still pretty good, Texas Powdered Skipper.

Southern Dogfaces were out.

Then a couple more tiny brown guys.  Got my Nysa Roadside-Skipper!

My original plan was to go to the National Butterfly Center after lunch but things were going good at Yturria so I stayed for another perusal of the trail.  Another small brown skipper was feeding on Chomonque.  My first impression was another Texas Powdered Skipper but this one turned out to be a Caballo (the old name Potrillo is for the Caribbean taxon) Skipper.  First I've seen at Yturria.

Then a tiny black thing.  It's not every day you get a Common Sootywing at eye level.

Texan Crescents were a bit unexpected.

Variegated Fritillary is usually pretty common out in the desert.

It's hard to turn down a White-striped Longtail.

I didn't find the Common Streaky Skipper but still a good three hours with 22 species.

• Black Swallowtail 1
• Southern Dogface 10
• Cloudless Sulphur 1
• Lyside Sulphur 20
• Sleepy Orange 10
• Gray Hairstreak 3
• Reakirt's Blue 5
• American Snout 50
• Texan Crescent 8
• Vesta Crescent 3
• Phaon Crescent 1
• Empress Leilia 5
• Queen 1
• White-striped Longtail 1
• Coyote Cloudywing 1
• Potrillo Skipper 1
• Texas Powdered-Skipper 2
• Funereal Duskywing 1
• Laviana White-Skipper 1
• Common Sootywing 1
• Sachem 1
• Nysa Roadside-Skipper 2

National Butterfly Center, 2/12/26

I haven't posted in a few weeks.  We had a freeze here in the Lower Rion Grande Valley of south Texas with a couple of nights with 5-6 hours below 32F.  It wasn't a big freeze but it was enough to give a pretty good burn to some of the plants.  I would say maybe 10% of plants at the National Butterfly Center suffered some damage.  But we warmed right back up to the 80's and butterflies are starting to recover some.  Halfway through the month the NBC species total is 85 which is actually pretty good.  The main problem now is it is extremely dry with no rain in sight.

There were no major rarities on the day but two Brown-banded Skippers were unusual.

It was nice to see a Mexican Bluewing.  A pair were cavorting near their Vassey's Adelia host plant.

Little flowers attract little butterflies like this Western Pygmy Blue on Tridax.

The booming Elbow Bush also attracted tiny guys like Reakirt's blue and  Dusky-blue Groundstreak.

'

I assumed the few smallish orange butterflies I was seeing were Sleepy Oranges, but the only one I photographed was a Tailed Orange.

There was another Caballo (AKA Potrillo) Skipper in the ditch below the blooming Azureum.  They tend to like shady places.

Common Sootywings have not been very common.

Terry Mortier from Wisconsin, who has been down in the Valley finding butterflies for the past four months, is off to Arizona.  We will miss his eyes in the field.  I may join him in a few weeks as I still need to see a number of the spring southwestern butterflies.

National Butterfly Center, 9/14/25

Well....  My original plan was to go to the HEB supermarket yesterday for groceries and then watch football.  But it was a nice moring so I thought what the hell.  I'll just go to the butterfly park and watch football afterwards.  The decision had disasterous consequences.  Well sort of.

Things started out great with at least a dozen Western Giant Swallowtails in the Mexican Orchid by the nursery.

Then a nice Guava Skipper popped in.  Probably the same one I glimsped last weekend.

Male Red-bordered Metalmarks are vastly under rated.

A few grasskippers were out.  Here is Clouded, Eufala, Wirlabout, and Double-dotted Skippers.

A walk up to the front gardens produced a nice Lanatana Scrub-Hairstreak.

And the first Common Sootywing I've seen in a while.

I'm discovering long-horned bees are a pain to ID except for a few easy ones like the female Tepanec Long-horned Bee with the black blotch on the stripe on abdominal segment four.

A return to the Mexican Orchid tree brought on a flurry of good butterflies.  First it was a Yellow Angled-Sulphur that my camera refused to focus on.  It was only present a few seconds as it often the case.  So I had to settle for a nearby Giant White.

I studied the flock (Do butterflies flock?) of Western Giant Swallowtails searching for an Ornython Swallowtail.  I got one!  It seems most of the ones we get are missing a large chunk of wing.  They have been blown a long ways in the wind and had to fight off a few predators.

Within a couple of minutes all three good butterflies were gone.  I watched the Mexican Orchid a while longer but nothing else unusual showed up.  So I headed for home.  

When I arrived I noticed I had a text from birder, butterflyer, and odester extraordinaire Martin Reid.  A Double-striped Thick-knee had just been found east of San Antonio near Nixon.  Yikes!  It is only the second ever north of Mexico.  As the first was taken as a specimen from the King Ranch in 1961, we've been waiting a long time.  I've seen a number of them in Chiapas near Palenque.

Well it was 2pm and I was exhausted and covered in sweat and sunscreen.  I just wasn't up for the five hour drive to maybe see the bird.  As it turned out a lot of people got it and it was still present in a pasture under a tree as the sun set.  But thick-knees are nocturnal shorebirds so it was just chilling as the hundred or so birders ticked it for their lists.  During the night it would be out feeding and there's a good possibility it might be elsewhere come morning.  So I decided to wait to see if it was refound.

Had I just gone to HEB and then watched football, I might have chased the bird when the word got out.  As I type this the Double-striped Thick-knee has not be refound.  Birders are searching on the private ranch.  I've always got an eye open for these guys as I bird the grasslands of Willacy county.  I guess I will just have to find my own.

Here's today's list of 38 species of butterflies.

• Pipevine Swallowtail 1
• Giant Swallowtail 20
• Ornythion Swallowtail 1
• Giant White 1
• Yellow Angled-Sulphur 1
• Cloudless Sulphur 1
• Large Orange Sulphur 15
• Lyside Sulphur 2
• Little Yellow 2
• Gray Hairstreak 1
• Lantana Scrub-Hairstreak 1
• Cassius Blue 1
• Ceraunus Blue 8
• Red-bordered Metalmark 3
• American Snout 5
• Gulf Fritillary 1
• Bordered Patch 4
• Phaon Crescent 20
• White Peacock 1
• Mexican Bluewing 1
• Tropical Leafwing 3
• Queen 15
• Soldier 1
• Guava Skipper 2
• Brown Longtail 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 5
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 20
• Desert Checkered-Skipper 1
• Laviana White-Skipper 4
• Common Sootywing 1
• Clouded Skipper 8
• Double-dotted Skipper 3
• Southern Skipperling 1
• Fiery Skipper 1
• Whirlabout 3
• Southern Broken-Dash 1
• Common Mellana 1
• Eufala Skipper 6