Trans-Pecos Trip, Pine Canyon at Big Bend, 4/8/26

I've been keeping an eye on iNaturalist and decided it was time for my first butterfly expedition for 2026.  I could get more lifers in Arizona but I wanted to work on my Texas list so I headed out to work the Trans-Pecos region of west Texas.  My first stop was in Zapata at the Stripes convenience store and yielded a flock of Chuihuahuan Ravens working on a breakfast taco.

My usual first butterfly stop on the way west is always at the Pecos River boat ramp on US 90.  The target here is Dotted Checkerspot.  I didn't see any but it's a little early in the season.  I'm hoping the colony is still alive after the severe drought that has plagued western Texas.  Things didn't look that bad, a few floweres were blooming.  Here's the usual Marine Blue on guajillo, a butterfly symbol of west Texas.

The rest of the trip was through dry flowerless desert.  I got a room at the humble OYO Motel Bien Venido which charges about a third the price of the other Alpine hotels.  The affable long term residents look like they came from an episode of Breaking Bad.  You get what you pay for😅

Next morning I made the long drive down to Pine Canyon in Big Bend National Park.  I like Pine Canyon.  I've had some good luck there in the past and it's nice to be away from the throngs of tourists in the Basin.  As I approached from the Terlingua side, things looked pretty good on the western slopes of the Chisos Mountains.  But after I passed the visitors center at Panther Gulch, things got a lot dryer.  The dirt road up to the Pine Canyon trailhead was through lifeless desert.  Many of the xeric plants adapted to this are of low precipitation looked dead.  I lowered my expectations.

It was 11am by the time I made the Pine Canyon trail head for the two mile walk to the end of the box canyon known as the "pour off".  A little late for birds but good for bugs.  Unfortuately not a flower in sight.  The tough beargrass and sotol made things look green but grass and forbes all looked dead.

Carpenter bee at a nest hole in a dead agave stalk.  I haven't worked out an ID yet.

At the bushy juniper a half mile up that serves as a convenient rest stop I was surprised to see a fat tailed dragonfly land in front of me.  Clubtail?  It rested for a few seconds and them started skimming.  What the...?  My mind imagined all kinds of cool things like White-tailed Sylph but reason pointed me to Pale-faced Clubskimmer.  I don't have a lot of experience with these but upon further review that seems to be what it is.

Halfway up the scrubby grassland turns to scrubby oaks and junipers with a few pinyon pines.  And finally a showy Arizona Sister passed me and posed coyly on an oak.

And some kind of a duskywing.  I saw a lot of these and right now I'm guessing Meridian Duskywing.

Red Satyr in a spot of sun.

This shaded portion of the trail is a welcome respite on a hot day.

                                                     

                                                    

Up in the wooded portion of the canyon a side trail leads to a seep that someties has some water.  I wasn't expecting anything but there was a small pool and it was attracting insects.  Here's aother probable Meridion Duskywing.  It lacks the spiny gray thoracic hairs of Rocky Mountain duskywing.

My guess on this brilliant blue damselfly was Springwater Dancer and still is.

Arizona Sisters came for a drink and a rest.

My target for the day was the rare Chisos Banded-Skipper.  I had a few glimspes of banded-skippers streak past me and when one finally landed it was the more common Golden Banded-Skipper.  Still a welcome sight!

Then I repositioned myself and hopped to another rock and found the Arizona Sister motherlode.

And mating Springwater Dancers.

I think this is a Texas Powdered-Skipper as the median band isn't spikey enough for Arizona.

More presumed Meridon duskywings.

Returning to the main trail I finally found a Mexican Yellow.

And another Golden Banded-Skipper.  Otherwise the pouroff at the end of the canyon was dry and afternoon shade put an end to the insect activity.

Returning down the trail I saw a Black Bear walking the dry stream below.  I figured it would spend some time at the wet seep.  Meanwhile another Red Satyr stole my attention.

Then a bit down the trail there was the bear again.  We looked at each other and decided to go our separate ways.  Life must be tough for these guys when it's so dry.

I had left my phone in the jeep to charge and when I returned I was shocked to see five hours had passed.  Not many butterflies but not too bad considering the dry conditions.  What a pleasant day!

Mexican Dartwhite, Black Checkerspot at Big Bend, 4/11/23

I made a run out to Big Bend National Park in west Texas hoping to find some migrant birds and maybe a few butterflies.  I made my usual hike up the Pine Canyon Trail which has hosted some very rare birds through the years and well the birds pretty muched sucked.  I think the only warbler I saw was an Audubon's.  On the other hand the butterflies rocked!  Hiking through the bear grass and sotol, Sandi Hairstreaks were easy to find.  I saw ten on the way up and five on the return trip.

Also common on the way of were Common Streaky Skippers.

The trail starts on the north side of a ravine passing though bear grass and sotols and then switches to the south side as it enters the oaks, juipers and pinyon pines.  As it cossed the botton of the ravine to go back up on the north side I saw a medium sized butterfly with white wing bands.  It landed on a Texas Madrone.  Some kind of a sister?  I fired a few shots.  Looking at the camera I saw a funky dark butterfly with white and yellow spots.  With red spots on the body and kind of shaped like a Florida White.   Hmmm..... White?  Mexican Dartwhite!!!  Wow!  This was a species I had hoped to see someday at Big Bend but I held little hope.  Now that's a lifer butterfly!

I watched the Mexican Dartwhite for about 45 minutes.  Numerous times it interacted with an Arizona Sister and a Tropical Leafwing.

My primary target was the hard to find Chisos Banded-Skipper.  I found a few of the more common Golden Banded-Skippers but none with a skinny band and white fringe.  I think this southwestern forn has been elevated to specific status but I forgot the new name.

I aslo found a couple of the striking Golden-headed Scallopwings.

Then a largish gray grass skipper landed right on the trail.  It posed nicely for photos and I later found a couple more.  They proved to be my lifer Python Skippers.

The trail later crossed back to the south side of the ravine and there were no more butterflies as I climbed up to the large cliff face where I had once found a Chisos Skipperling.  Here in the shade it was cooler and the oak trees were just starting to leaf out.  No migrant birds either.  So I walked back down and after a bit I saw a butterfly zip past me and land in the leaves.  Texan Crescent was my first thought.  I didn't have one for the day so I took a few photos.  Looking at the back of the camera I realized this was no Texan Crescent.  But the butterfly looked familiar.  After reaching the car I looked though my copy of Glasberg and Black Checkerspot was the one that fit best.  Back at the hotel, internet seaches also pointed me to Black Checkerspot.  This species is a resident of the western Sierra Madre in Mexico and just barely reaches south eastern Arizona where it is not common.  Mike Rickard (who coincidentally found the first USA record of Mexican Dartwhite way back in the 70's) told me he thinks this may be the first Black Checkerspot to be recorded in Texas.  I was only able to get three shots, all the same, before it took off not to be refound.

The rest of my short trip proved uneventful.  I looked for Big Bend Scrub Hairstreaks in the bromiliad patches.  They were just starting to bloom but I couldn't find any hairstreaks.

• Two-tailed Swallowtail 1
• Mexican Dartwhite 1
• Checkered White 12
• Mexican Yellow 8
• Sleepy Orange 6
• Dainty Sulphur 4
• Sandia Hairstreak 12
• Western Pygmy-Blue 1
• Marine Blue 1
• Chisos Metalmark 1
• Black Checkerspot 1
• Arizona Sister 1
• Tropical Leafwing 1
• Golden Banded-Skipper 6
• Golden-headed Scallopwing 2
• Rocky Mountain Duskywing 2
• Mournful Duskywing 1
• Common Streaky-Skipper 10
• Python Skipper 3

Lower Pine Canyon, Big Bend NP, 4/7/15

Spent the day in Big Bend National Park walking the trail to the pour off in lower Pine Canyon.  Butterflies picked up as the day warmed and I ended up seeing some really good stuff.  Walking up the trail I passed through some bear grass and found my primary target for the day, Sandia Hairstreak.  A couple were chasing each other for several minutes till one landed on  a blade of bear grass.

A nice surprise at the end of the trail at the pour off was my first Chisos Skipperling.  It was sitting on a wet rock in the splash zone from the water pouring over the cliff from over a hundred feet above.  The slippery rocks and occasion pelting of water from above made getting a good photo of this rare butterfly difficult.  It looks like it's ovipositing on the rock.  What's up with that?

Additional butterflies in the dappled sunlight under the maples and oaks were Two-tailed Swallowtails, California Sister, Common Streaky-Skipper and Golden Banded-Skipper.

Walking back down the canyon, I saw several brown duskywings.  As I've never walked this canyon in the spring this was my first Sleepy Duskywing Erynnis brizo.

I'm not so sure about this one but with the white spots on the forewing and the two spots on the under side of the hind wing I think it's a Rocky Mountain Duskywing Erynnis telemachus.

Saw this Rawson's Metalmark as I approached my car.

As I was driving about a half mile away from the trailhead I saw this little hairstreak flying around a big yucca.  I got some photos and the best I could make of it was Red-lined Scrub-Hairstreak.  But after posting the photos on Facebook both Martin Reid and Chris Durden (who co-authored the paper describing the species) say its the Big Bend Scrub-Hairstreak Strymon solitario.  This local species uses the ground bromeliad Hectia texensis as a host plant and it was previously know as Bromiliad Scrub-Hairstreak which is a different species Strymon serapio.  I hope I have this right.

Quite a day!

• Two-tailed Swallowtail 5
• Checkered White 20
• Southern Dogface 5
• Mexican Yellow 12
• Dainty Sulphur 3
• Great Purple Hairstreak 1
• Sandia Hairstreak 2
• Gray Hairstreak 1
• Reakirt's Blue 1
• Rawson's Metalmark 1
• Variegated Fritillary 5
• Bordered Patch 3
• Texan Crescent 3
• Vesta Crescent 5
• Red Admiral 1
• California Sister 1
• Golden Banded-Skipper 6
• Sleepy Duskywing 2
• Rocky Mountain Duskywing 1
• Funereal Duskywing 1
• Desert Checkered-Skipper 10
• Common Sootywing 10
• Chisos Skipperling 1
• Orange Skipperling 15