National Butterfly Center, 12/24/15

Over the past four warm breezy days, fifteen species of hairstreaks have been photographed at the National Butterfly Center.  One new one today was the rare Pearly-gray Hairstreak.  There was two present on Christmas of 2012.

Also new for this week was Lacey's Scrub-Hairstreak.  Several have been seen during the fall after being absent for a couple of years.

While yesterday, this cute White Scrub-Hairstreak was added to the list.

My first Guatemalan Cracker for the year was a nice one.  Mike found it yesterday.

Silver Emperor is no longer a surprise.  Lots have been seen this year.

Purple-washed Skippers have been absent for a few weeks.

And two nice spreadwing Skippers, Brown-banded and White-patched.

Lacey's Scrub-Hairstreak at Resaca de las Palmas, 11/18/13

Yesterday Linda Cooper found a Lacey's Scrub-Hairstreak at Resaca De Las Palmas State Park in Cameron County.  With heavy cloud cover I wasn't going to chase after it today.  But the sky brightened so I decided to make the trip over to look for what would be a lifer butterfly.  There were lots of butterflies in the garden including a couple of dozen Blue Metalmarks on the Scorpiontails, but no Lacey's Scrub Hairstreak.  So I walked the Ebony Trail seeing little but Mexican Bluewings, Band-celled Sisters and Boisduval's Yellows.  When I returned to the flower garden, a nice lady from Maryland ashed me "What's this little hairstreak?"  Well, it was the beautiful Lacey's Scrub-Hairstreak.

The Blue Metalmarks really responded to the rain this fall.  They are being seen in several places in Cameron County.  Don't know why we can't get them in Hidalgo County.

Here's another Giant White, my first for Cameron County.

I saw about a dozen Boisduval's Yellow, another Cameron County specialty.

I guess this is a Julia's Skipper.  Sure is bright but I can't seem to turn it into anything else.

Here's a very tropical looking Zebra Heliconian.

I called Robin and Troy to get over and see the Lacey's Scub-Hairstreak and they were there in a few minutes.  Later Troy led me down the Ebony Trail to where he had found a Pale-green Darner a week ago.  I was amazed when he was able to find this rare, crepuscular, highly camouflaged dragonfly without any trouble.  It was another first for me.

He found a Bar-sided Darner also, another south Texas woodland specialty.