Ruby-spotted Swallowtail at NBC, 10/28/25

There have been a few Ruby-spotted Swallowtails reported around the Rio Grande Valley lately.  I have not seen one of these Mexican swallowtails in a few years so when Terry Mortier reported one yesterday on the Mexican orchid at the National Butterfly Center I thought I should run over to enjoy it.  I got over there about a half hour later and it was still nectaring on the same plant.

Below it another Mexican Crescent was feeding on the crucita.  The specific epithet is pallescens meaning pale.  The similar Phaon nearby is much darker.

Checking the bait logs there were several of the highly variable Tropical Leafwings.

Six Lantana Scrub-Hairstreaks may be an all time high for me.

I have been seeing Marius Harestreaks lately along the Retama Village Wall just north of Bentsen.  Nice to get one at the NBC in the same firebush where they spent last winter.

The buffy under wings of this crescent had be confused but the top looked like another Mexican Crescent.  I later found similarly buffy specimens on iNaturalist.

The temperature was tickling the underbelly of a hundred F so I decided I had enough.  I was just getting in the jeep when I though I heard someone yell.  I was too tired to worry about it but a minute later the Discord "bonged" and Linda Cooper was reporting another Ruby-spotted Swallowtail.  I ran over and got a few more shots of what proved to be the same butterfly as five hours earlier.

I told Linda I though I had heard someone yell.  She said when someone yells you need to come running.  I told her I couldn't tell if the voice was from outside or inside my head.  It was a good hot sweaty day.

National Butterfly Center, 10/16/25

Over five hours spent at the National Butterfly Center turned up 48 species.  Despite hot dry conditions, crucita is starting to bloom and butterfly numbers have really increased compared to five days ago.  This Red-crescent Scrub-Hairstreak is the first I've seen this year.

It's been a good fall for Brown-banded Skippers.

It's always a good sign when the Giant Whites are blowing up from Mexico.

My first Ocola Skipper for the fall.

Saw a couple of Lantana Scrub-Hairstreaks.

There were hundreds of Queens on the crucita.

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And even a few Soldiers.

I liked this Red-bordered Metalmark.

I can't tell who she is eating.

Here's today's list of 48 species.

• Pipevine Swallowtail 1
• Giant Swallowtail 2
• Giant White 1
• Southern Dogface 25
• Cloudless Sulphur 4
• Large Orange Sulphur 50
• Lyside Sulphur 10
• Little Yellow 5
• Gray Hairstreak 10
• Red-crescent Scrub-Hairstreak 1
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 3
• Lantana Scrub-Hairstreak 2
• Ceraunus Blue 30
• American Snout 80
• Gulf Fritillary 15
• Mexican Fritillary 3
• Bordered Patch 25
• Elada Checkerspot 1
• Phaon Crescent 25
• Red Admiral 1
• Common Buckeye 1
• White Peacock 3
• Mexican Bluewing 2
• Tropical Leafwing 3
• Empress Leilia 2
• Tawny Emperor 60
• Queen 300
• Soldier 5
• White-striped Longtail 2
• Sickle-winged Skipper 5
• Brown-banded Skipper 1
• White-patched Skipper 8
• Mournful Duskywing 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 10
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 5
• Laviana White-Skipper 20
• Clouded Skipper 60
• Double-dotted Skipper 1
• Southern Skipperling 5
• Fiery Skipper 30
• Whirlabout 6
• Southern Broken-Dash 3
• Sachem 5
• Common Mellana 5
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 15
• Eufala Skipper 20
• Ocola Skipper 2
• 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

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