National Butterfly Center, 6/13/26

After a few days of editing photos I needed to get out and sweat so I ran over to the National Butterfly Center.  I was welcomed by this oddly marked Coyote (Skinner's) Cloudywing.  New for the June Big Board.  #77!

Only three species of hairstreaks today.  Here's a Dusky-blue Groundstreak.

Not a lot else going on in the front garden except for this Brazilian Skipper, my first for the year and #78 on the Big Board which is pretty good for June.

Again there were lots of Mexican Crescents around and no Vestas.  Something's going on.

In the back garden there were plenty of Mexican Bluewings.  Good to have them back in numbers.

Elada Checkerspots are back in their usual location around the restrooms.

And finally the Curve-winged Metamark show continues.  I saw seven today.

Supposed to be getting a good dose of rain in the next few days.  We can use it.

Today's list of 44 species.

• Pipevine Swallowtail 1
• Giant Swallowtail 4
• Checkered White 3
• Great Southern White 20
• Cloudless Sulphur 2
• Large Orange Sulphur 15
• Lyside Sulphur 25
• Little Yellow 8
• Dainty Sulphur 3
• Western Pygmy-Blue 1
• Cassius Blue 6
• Ceraunus Blue 2
• Red-bordered Metalmark 1
• Red-bordered Pixie 2
• Curve-winged Metalmark 7
• American Snout 2
• Gulf Fritillary 6
• Zebra Heliconian 1
• Bordered Patch 6
• Elada Checkerspot 10
• Texan Crescent 6
• Pale-banded Crescent 100
• Phaon Crescent 5
• White Peacock 4
• Mexican Bluewing 10
• Hackberry Emperor 1
• Queen 6
• Soldier 4
• White-striped Longtail 2
• Brown Longtail 6
• Coyote Cloudywing 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 5
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 12
• Laviana White-Skipper 3
• Julia's Skipper 1
• Clouded Skipper 6
• Double-dotted Skipper 4
• Southern Skipperling 5
• Whirlabout 6
• Southern Broken-Dash 8
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 4
• Eufala Skipper 5
• Brazilian Skipper 1
• Mexican Crescent 10

Spring at National Butterfly Center, 3/5/26

Spring has sprung!  It is windy, dry and dusty in the Ruio Grande Valley of south Texas and trees are leafing out best then can despite the continuing drought.  The wind is screaming out of the south and the air is full of dust and pollen.  I'm itching all over, inside and out!  New arrivals today at the National Butterfly Center included this Florida White.  I think it's my first for the year.

Spreadwing skippers were abundant today.  Here's the first Sickle-winged Skipper I've seen in a while.

The four most common long-tailed Skippers popped in: Long-tailed Skipper (minus tails), Dorantes Longtail, White-striped Longtail and Brown Longtail.

And some of the little exotic spread-winged skippers:  Caballo Skipper, Common Streaky Skipper and Turk's-Cap White-Skipper.

Plenty of grass skippers too.  At least a half dozen Double-dotted skippers today.

Souther Broken-Dash has been numerous lately.

Here's a pair of cavorting Whirlabouts.

Finally got a Western Giant-Swallowtail.  Big butterflies ave been hard to come by,

An Elada Checkerspot was new but at the species' usual spot by the restrooms.  I am guessing this one hatched locally.  It's fun to speculate who is local and who blew in with the wind.

So I ran the Big Board species total up to 77 which is pretty good for five days into March.  Possible rain on the way!

• Giant Swallowtail 1
• Florida White 1
• Checkered White 1
• Southern Dogface 2
• Large Orange Sulphur 5
• Lyside Sulphur 3
• Little Yellow 5
• Mimosa Yellow 2
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 1
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 1
• Cassius Blue 2
• Ceraunus Blue 1
• Reakirt's Blue 1
• American Snout 12
• Gulf Fritillary 1
• Mexican Fritillary 1
• Bordered Patch 1
• Elada Checkerspot 1
• Texan Crescent 8
• Pale-banded Crescent 6
• Red Admiral 1
• Band-celled Sister 1
• Mexican Bluewing 1
• Common Mestra 3
• Tropical Leafwing 3
• Tawny Emperor 1
• Queen 1
• White-striped Longtail 2
• Long-tailed Skipper 1
• Dorantes Longtail 1
• Brown Longtail 1
• Coyote Cloudywing 1
• Potrillo Skipper 1
• Sickle-winged Skipper 1
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 10
• Desert Checkered-Skipper 1
• Laviana White-Skipper 6
• Turk's-cap White-Skipper 1
• Common Streaky-Skipper 1
• Julia's Skipper 1
• Fawn-spotted Skipper 1
• Clouded Skipper 6
• Double-dotted Skipper 6
• Southern Skipperling 2
• Fiery Skipper 2
• Whirlabout 4
• Southern Broken-Dash 6
• Sachem 2
• Common Mellana 2
• Mexican Crescent 2

National Butterfly Center, 8/16/25

It's still hot and nasty in the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas but there's a hint of fall in the air.  Maybe it's just the days getting a little shorter.  The Mid Valley got rained on hard by a weird little low pressure system that spun up in the Gulf so I ran over to the National Butterfly Center yesterday to see what was going on.  They got very little rain but there were still plenty of butterflies.  Star of the day was this stonking Brown-banded Skipper.  It was so strongly marked it had me scratching my head a bit.  It's been a couple of years since I have seen one.

There was a nice White-patched Skipper in the in front of the visitors center.

I like spread winged skippers.  But sometimes I get tired of of Sickle-winged Skippers when they are so common.  But lately they have been uncommon so this one was appreciated.

All of the tailed skippers were missing tails.  I think they have blown up from Mexico rather than hatched locally.  Here's Brown Longtail and White-striped Longtail.

This worn Lantana Scrub-Hairstreak looks particularly dull against the scarlet Jatropha.

Goatweed Leafwings are always a treat in the Valley.

Here is the more common Tropical Leafwing.

Elada Checkerspots are regular near the restrooms.

A spur of the moment visit racked up 41 species.  Nothing wrong with that.

• Pipevine Swallowtail 1
• Giant Swallowtail 7
• Southern Dogface 1
• Cloudless Sulphur 2
• Large Orange Sulphur 20
• Lyside Sulphur 10
• Little Yellow 6
• Gray Hairstreak 2
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 2
• Lantana Scrub-Hairstreak 1
• Cassius Blue 3
• Ceraunus Blue 10
• American Snout 6
• Gulf Fritillary 10
• Mexican Fritillary 1
• Bordered Patch 6
• Elada Checkerspot 5
• Texan Crescent 1
• Phaon Crescent 25
• Mexican Bluewing 8
• Common Mestra 1
• Tropical Leafwing 6
• Goatweed Leafwing 1
• Tawny Emperor 8
• Queen 8
• White-striped Longtail 1
• Brown Longtail 6
• Sickle-winged Skipper 1
• Brown-banded Skipper 1
• White-patched Skipper 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 3
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 12
• Laviana White-Skipper 6
• Julia's Skipper 1
• Clouded Skipper 6
• Southern Skipperling 2
• Fiery Skipper 5
• Whirlabout 1
• Southern Broken-Dash 5
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 4
• Eufala Skipper 1

Natonal Butterfly Center, 5/1/24

It's been really dry this spring but there were still lots of butterflies at the National Butterfly Center.  But it's going to get really hot and number's will probably crash if we don't get rain soon.  Nothing really exciting today.  This Julia's Skipper had a contrasting ray on one side but it's not a Pale-rayed Skipper.

Elada Checkerspots were out in force.

As were Bordered Patches.

A good looking Funereal Duskywing.

The requisite Mexican Bluewings.

It's been a good spring for Long-tailed Skippers.

It's not very purple but I think this is a Purple-washed Skipper.  I forgot to put it on my list.

44 species is a pretty good haul for this time of year.

• Black Swallowtail 1
• Giant Swallowtail 3
• Checkered White 20
• Great Southern White 8
• Large Orange Sulphur 5
• Lyside Sulphur 20
• Little Yellow 8
• Mimosa Yellow 1
• Dainty Sulphur 2
• Gray Hairstreak 4
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 8
• Cassius Blue 1
• Ceraunus Blue 1
• Reakirt's Blue 20
• Rounded Metalmark 1
• American Snout 1
• Gulf Fritillary 1
• Zebra Heliconian 1
• Variegated Fritillary 1
• Mexican Fritillary 2
• Bordered Patch 12
• Elada Checkerspot 8
• Texan Crescent 12
• Phaon Crescent 10
• Pearl Crescent 1
• Common Buckeye 1
• Mexican Bluewing 8
• Common Mestra 1
• Empress Leilia 2
• Tawny Emperor 20
• Queen 10
• Long-tailed Skipper 1
• Mournful Duskywing 1
• Funereal Duskywing 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 10
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 20
• Laviana White-Skipper 10
• Julia's Skipper 1
• Clouded Skipper 8
• Southern Skipperling 2
• Fiery Skipper 2
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 1
• Eufala Skipper 2