Quick NE Texas Bug Trip, 7/19-20/26

There are a couple of summer tiger beetles I wanted to find this year.  With the season for Eastern Red-bellied Tiger Beetle quickly coming to end, I thought I needed to make a quick run up to NE Texas.  Then while checking out the latest tiger beetle finds on iNaturalist, I saw Virginia Metallic Tiger Beetle was beeing seen in College Station.  Dang!  I loaded up the jeep and took off Sunday morning.

I needed to get some miles behind me so there wasn't much stopping.  But lunchtime arrived right when I came to the Coleto Creek crossing on US 77 just west of Victoria.  It's always a great place to stop.  I quickly ate my lunch and then checked out the bugs under the bridge.  Yellow and orange butterflies were puddling at the edge of Coleto Creek.  First a bunch of Cloudless Sulphurs.

And then an amazing five Julia Heliconians.  I'm sure the summer rain had something to do with so many being in an area where they are not normally common.

Then a little golden skipper.  What the???  It was a Least Skippering!  This was a new Texas species for me and one I was hoping to find in NE Texas.  Turns out this one is the first Victoria County record on iNat.

The afternoon was uneventful as I painfully made my way along crappy east Texas highways to College Station.  I checked in to my hotel, ate dinner and waited for dark.  Virginia Metallic Tiger Beetle is a nocturnal species.  And it's pretty darn common with over three hundred records in Texas on iNaturalist.  People often find them in their yards in east Texas.  They were being reported just a couple of nights prior along a bike trail in the Lick Creek Greenbelt.

I arrived at the trail head just before dark and looked around.  The concrete trail wound through a heavily wooded area.  I was hoping for hungry earlybirds that might give me some photographic opportunities in the waning light.  But not much going on.  As it got darker I saw a few dark shapes scamper along the edge of the vegetation.  Damn.  This might not be easy.  The sun went down at 8:45 and it was getting dark fast.  I bumped the ISO up to 12800.  That's all my old Canon 7D Mark II can do.   I had recently bought a cheap head lamp and I could tell it was not going to be sufficient.

Then I saw an inch long beetle scamper onto the concrete path.  I think this is it.  It ran like hell as I expected it would. Tiger beetles are thought to be the fastest land animal proportional to their size.  In fact they run so fast they have to periodically stop to allow their brains to interpret what they are seeing as they hunt.  There was no way my camera's autofocus was going to catch this speedy insect in my weak head lamp's light.  I switched to manual focus but still could not get it in my view finder.

But my light was strong enough to disorient the tiger beetle and it started running toward me.  To hell with trying to get a photo.  I'm going to grab that sucker.  And I did.  I got this photo with my iPhone.

Actually that turned out better than I had hoped.  Then a couple of minutes later I saw second.  This one was apparently eating its prey and allowed me to get close enough to get a camera shot.

The next morning I took off early.  It was still over two hours to my next destination.  The Gus Engling Wildlife Management Area area is the largest and probably the best known of the the many Texas Fish and Game's wildlife management areas.  The seven mile road passes though nearly ten thousand acres of oak and grass that is managed for hunting.  In recent years it has been a pretty reliable site for the hard to find Eastern Red-bellied Tiger Beetle, a species partial to open rocky or gravelly spots in wooded areas.

I found the spot on the north end of the preserve where a gravelly track runs to a small lake.  I had barely started walking when I spied a tiger beetle.  But it was just the uber common Ocellated Tiger Bettle.

Then a large bright rusty brown skipper.  I thought it was going to be a Silver Spotted Skipper but it turned out to be a Hoary Edge.  Only the second I've ever seen.

And then another tiger beetle but this one was a metallic blue with a white apical lunule.  Eastern Red-bellied Tiger Beetle!  I got lucky as this was the only one I saw and it cooperated nicely.

I spent the next couple of hours chasing dragon and damsel flies.  But by 1pm the temperature had reached the 90s and I was done for the day.  Mission accomplished!

National Butterfly Center, 11/24/25

I was not going to go to the National Butterfly Center.  I wanted a rest day and had stuff to do.  So while the butterfliers were running around seeing stuff, I was accomplishing things.  I even got in a pretty good workout.  I was going to thaw out some chicken for a stir fry, but the damn butterfly watchers kept reporting stuff.  First the usual Malachites and Red Rims.  Then a Ruddy Hairstreak.  Then a White Scrub-Hairstreak.  Blue-eyed Sailor was the straw that broke the camel's back.  I've seen a few of those but if Blue-eyed Sailors are showing up, what else could be in the offing?  So I raced over to the National Butterfly Center and found the crowd focused on the Blue-eyed Sailor.  That was easy.

The first Julia I've seen in months took our attention from the sailor.

The Ruddy Hairstreak failed to show any orange on the topside that would designate it as a male Ruddy.  So it has to fall ito the Ruddy/Muted category.  Glassberg says it is not known how to ID Muted Hairstreak in the field.  This is most likely a female Ruddy Hairstreak.

Then we heard a distant call of "Pale-spotted Leafwing."  We started running, some of us faster than others.  I like the exotic shape of the fore wing.  It didn't stay long.

Red Rims are being seen daily.

Silver-banded Hairstreaks have become common.

And so many Clytie Ministreaks.

Then Terry found another White-scrub Hairstreak.

I later heard that the Indiana Gang had seen 100 butterfly species on the day.  Yikes.  This is turning into one of the best fall butterfly seasons ever in the RGV.  Good stuff is coming.

First Florida Purplewing at Progreso Lakes, 2/24/23

I was watching birds in the yard this morning (butterflies have been kinda scant lately) with plans to do yard work afterwards when I noticed a Julia Heliconian.  I took some photos and then saw something on my crawdad trap bait station that was bigger than a South Texas Satyr but smaller than a Red Admiral.  And I though I saw a flash of white spots.  I had a pretty good idea it might be a Florida Purplewing.  So I fired a couple of shots and I was right!  The purplewing then flew into the Mexican olive tree.  I watched for a few minutes and it didn't come back so I ran into the house for some more bait (a couple of oranges and melon rinds) and it came back in for a few shots.  Most years a Florida Purplewing will show up at the National Butterfly Center but it's always a big deal.  They are common as dirt in the Florida Keys.  Florida Purplewing is butterfly species #149 for our Progreso Lakes yard.

Here's the sharp Julia Heliconian.

At this point I thought to hell with the yard work.  Time to look for butterflies.  I had irrigated the back yard the night before so maybe that might attract some stuff.  Stuf like this Zebra Heliconian.

A big white flew by but no photo.  But later it was on the purple Duranta.  Warm south wind often brings a Giant White into the yard.

Here's a lazy Westerm Giant Swallowtail.

Double-dotted Skippers were showing a variety of dots.

First Celia's Roadside-Skipper for the year.

This Funereal Duskywing is all dressed up.

Here's today's list of 40 species which is pretty amazing for February.

• Pipevine Swallowtail 1
• Giant Swallowtail 1
• Checkered White 4
• Giant White 1
• Orange Sulphur 1
• Cloudless Sulphur 2
• Large Orange Sulphur 1
• Lyside Sulphur 1
• Boisduval's Yellow 1
• Little Yellow 5
• Mimosa Yellow 1
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 2
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 2
• American Snout 5
• Gulf Fritillary 5
• Julia Heliconian 1
• Zebra Heliconian 1
• Texan Crescent 10
• Vesta Crescent 10
• Phaon Crescent 3
• Red Admiral 1
• Florida Purplewing 1
• Common Mestra 1
• Tawny Emperor 1
• Carolina Satyr 12
• Monarch 1
• Queen 2
• White-striped Longtail 1
• Brown Longtail 2
• White-patched Skipper 1
• Funereal Duskywing 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 3
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 12
• Laviana White-Skipper 1
• Julia's Skipper 2
• Clouded Skipper 6
• Double-dotted Skipper 2
• Southern Broken-Dash 1
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 1
• Eufala Skipper 3

• 
  

Progreso Lakes, 3/12/18

This afternoon I was working in the butterfly garden in our yard at Progreso Lakes when a sharp Julia's Heliconian came cruising by.  It told me to put down the shovel and pick up the camera.

Then I saw a little brown spreadwing skipper....Mazan's Scallopwing!  This is a butterfly that likes shady brushy areas and I thought it might be a while before we add this one to our yard list.  But there it was, butterfly #106.

Then there was this guy.  I thought it was just a Celia's Roadside-Skipper in a nice pose.  But looking at Glassberg, it has a lot of the field marks of Bell's Roadside-Skipper from NE Texas.  We will see what people think.

Here's a Turk's-cap White-Skipper.

When we bought this place fifteen months ago I never dreamed that Double-dotted Skipper would be a regular in our yard.  I love 'em.

Here's a very bright female Sachem.

And a Southern Broken-Dash.

This White-striped Longtail was all over our acre yard.

A couple of hours later the day's list stood at 34 species.  Pretty good.

• Pipevine Swallowtail 1
• Giant Swallowtail 2
• Checkered White 1
• Orange Sulphur 1
• Lyside Sulphur 1
• Gray Hairstreak 1
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 1
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 6
• Reakirt's Blue 1
• American Snout 1
• Julia Heliconian 1
• Bordered Patch 2
• Texan Crescent 1
• Phaon Crescent 2
• Pearl Crescent 1
• Red Admiral 1
• Carolina Satyr 15
• Monarch 1
• White-striped Longtail 1
• Brown Longtail 4
• Mazans Scallopwing 1
• Funereal Duskywing 3
• White Checkered-Skipper 3
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper20
• Turk's-cap White-Skipper 1
• Julia's Skipper 3
• Fawn-spotted Skipper 1
• Clouded Skipper 4
• Double-dotted Skipper 2
• Whirlabout 1
• Southern Broken-Dash 2
• Sachem 2
• Bell's Roadside-Skipper 1
• Eufala Skipper 2

Chestnut Crescent at Estero, 2/8/17

Several Chestnut Crescents have been seen lately at the National Butterfly Center including a male yesterday.  So when Rick Snider reported a male this afternoon at Estero Llano Grande State Park, I thought I'd better run over and try to see it.  Well I failed to find it but got a surprise female Chestnut Crescent instead.  I think it's just my fourth sighting of this rare Mexican butterfly.

And then just a few minutes later I saw my second ever Falcate Orangetip but could not manage a photo.  I did get my first Brown-banded Skipper of the year.

There were at least three Julia Heliconians.

A tattered Band-celled Sister.

It had been several years since my last Olive-clouded Skipper so I was happy to find this one.

Female Whirlabouts always make me do a double-take.

As do worn White-patched Skipper.

And then there was this one.  It was about the size of a Julia's Skipper but seemed way too dark to me.  I'm still waiting for some expert commentary on this bug.

90 degree in Feb. sure brings out the butterflies.