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

National Butterfly Center, 11/18/25

The Texas Butterfly Festival has come and gone but new butterfly watchers are arriving in the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas almost daily.  The assemblage of amatuer lepidopteristsa and warm south wind from Mexico results in lots of butterflies being seen in the RGV.  Last I saw yesterday the running species count for the month of November at the National Butterfly Center was at 125.  Amazing!  There have been no new records or mega finds but lots of good stuff is being found by those out plying the trails.

I've been taking it easy and trying not to get burned out.  Consequently I have missed a lot of the good stuff but I'm not complaining.  Here's a little of what I've seen the past few days starting with yesterday's Guatemalan Cracker.

I ran over yesterday hoping for the Hoary Skipper but I missed it.  So I had to glean from left over Glazed Pellicia, White-patched Skipper and Red-bordered Pixies.

Finally we are seeing a few Julia's Skippers.

The male Silver emperor was putting on a show.  Where's the blue?  You just have to change your angle!  Blue coloration of birds and butterflies are often caused by by microscopic structural reflections and not blue pigment.

Malachites are occuring daily.

I pointed visiting birders to this Guava Skipper.  They were grateful.

Mexican Bluewings have been in short supply.

But not the rare Mexican Crescent.

Here's the morning Ruby-spotted Swallowtail.  We have seen nearly a dozen this fall.

As I was leaving one more butterfly caught my eye.  Woops.  Look at those antennae.  This is the diurnal White-tipped Black Moth.

With good wind and good observers in the field, we're bound to get something remarkable in the coming weeks.

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

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