National Butterfly Center, 5/31/26

I ran over to the National Butterfly Center on Sunday to see if I could add anything to the Big Board as we finished up May.  With the decent spring rain lots of stuff is still flying.  This spring is certainly more interesting than the past several dry springs.  A couple of husky Double-dotted Skippers in the front gardens were nice.  There have not been many around lately.

Some of the Ocherous Skippers (Nick Grishin has split our Clouded Skippers) were nearly as large.  The remaining Texas thistle blooms were popular.

Lots of Great Southern Whites around lately.

This female was ovipositing on some kind of pepper grass (not really a grass).

Female Tepanec Long-horned Bees are easy to ID with the black spot on the white band on T4.

A short drive to the south garden included a stop at the blooming Tenaza tree.  Lots of common butterflies here but best were a couple of cavorting Double-dotted Skippers.

Curve-winged Metalmarks were easy to find.  We had a bunch this past winter and they seemed to have raised babies.  I totalled five today.  Glassberg lists them as rare in is guide but not anymore.

Soldiers are back for the summer.

Mexican Crescents were mating in the Consevatory.  Meanwhile Vesta Crescents seem to be absent.  Have they been replaced by Mexican Crescents?

A walk of the bait logs turned up nothing rare but it was nice to see a few Mexican Bluewings.

Back in the front garden this Mournful Duskywing showed the tell tale white spots on its hind underwings.  iNaturalist's Ai missed on this a couple of weeks ago but got it right this time.

I love Red-bordered Metalmarks.

This ratty Long-tailed Skipper brought the May "Big Board" toatal to 92 species.  I think that's an all time high for May.

Looking good for June.

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

Vicroy's Ministreak and lots more at NBC, 2/18/25

One last warm breezy day before four cold days means the National Butterfly Center has the the potential to be hopping.  Bug of the day goes to this Vicroy's Ministreak found by Jeff Bryant, only the second I've ever seen.  BOA refers to it as Pebbly Ministreak.  Long though of as a varient of Gray Ministreak, the green eyes and pebbly scales are quite distinctive.  Jeff Glassberg described the new species and named it after his wife who passed away a few years ago, Ministrymon janevicroy.

Jeff Bryant also found this worn Mexican Crescent, the first one to be found since the freeze.

Chris Balboni found this female Silver Emperor, it's been years since I've seen one.

Two Mourning Cloaks would normally been the major find.  One was really fresh.  And one not so much.

Lots of Common Streaky-Skippers around lately.

My first Double-dotted Skipper since the freeze.

Desert Checkered-Skippers were out today.

The requisite Mexican Bluewing photo.

Here's today's list of 43 species which is pretty amazing for February.  The NBC list for the month is up to 73.

• Pipevine Swallowtail 1
• Orange Sulphur 1
• Southern Dogface 3
• Lyside Sulphur 12
• Little Yellow 3
• Sleepy Orange 1
• Gray Hairstreak 5
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 3
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 3
• Western Pygmy-Blue 3
• Ceraunus Blue 3
• Reakirt's Blue 5
• American Snout 20
• Variegated Fritillary 1
• Bordered Patch 2
• Texan Crescent 1
• Vesta Crescent 1
• Mexican Crescent  1
• Phaon Crescent 5
• Mourning Cloak 2
• American Lady 1
• Red Admiral 5
• Mexican Bluewing 2
• Tropical Leafwing 5
• Silver Emperor 1
• Queen 1
• Funereal Duskywing 6
• White Checkered-Skipper 20
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 5
• Desert Checkered-Skipper 2
• Laviana White-Skipper 3
• Common Streaky-Skipper 5
• Clouded Skipper 1
• Double-dotted Skipper 1
• Southern Skipperling 2
• Fiery Skipper 5
• Whirlabout 1
• Sachem 1
• Common Mellana 1
• Nysa Roadside-Skipper 2
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 2
• Eufala Skipper 2
• Vicroy's Ministreak 1
• 
  

Progreso Lakes yard, 6/1/23

Well the species score in our yard today at Progreso Lakes, Texas was Birds 27 Butterflies 37.  Nothing exciting but the butterflies kicked the birds asses.  This oddly marked Double-dotted Skipper got my attention today.  I tried to turn it into some new Mexican Species but it's not.  Not only are the dots variable, so is the white at the base of the atenna clubs.

Boisduval's Yellows showed nicely.

White Peacocks have popped out.

Had Mimosa and Little Yellows side by side but my camera could not get focused on them both in the same shot..

First Turk's-Cap White-Skipper I've seen in a while.  Females are pretty uncommon in my experience.

Here today's list of 37 species.

• Giant Swallowtail 4
• Great Southern White 2
• Cloudless Sulphur 6
• Large Orange Sulphur 2
• Lyside Sulphur 2
• Boisduval's Yellow 3
• Little Yellow 5
• Mimosa Yellow 2
• Sleepy Orange 1
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 2
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 1
• Ceraunus Blue 5
• American Snout 1
• Gulf Fritillary 6
• Bordered Patch 1
• Texan Crescent 12
• Vesta Crescent 4
• Phaon Crescent 2
• Pearl Crescent 3
• White Peacock 5
• Queen 4
• Brown Longtail 5
• Sickle-winged Skipper 1
• Mournful Duskywing 1
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 15
• Laviana White-Skipper 4
• Turk's-cap White-Skipper 1
• Clouded Skipper 5
• Double-dotted Skipper 5
• Southern Skipperling 1
• Fiery Skipper 1
• Whirlabout 8
• Southern Broken-Dash 6
• Sachem 1
• Common Mellana 3
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 4
• Eufala Skipper 3