Natonal Butterfly Center, 5/1/24

It's been really dry this spring but there were still lots of butterflies at the National Butterfly Center.  But it's going to get really hot and number's will probably crash if we don't get rain soon.  Nothing really exciting today.  This Julia's Skipper had a contrasting ray on one side but it's not a Pale-rayed Skipper.

Elada Checkerspots were out in force.

As were Bordered Patches.

A good looking Funereal Duskywing.

The requisite Mexican Bluewings.

It's been a good spring for Long-tailed Skippers.

It's not very purple but I think this is a Purple-washed Skipper.  I forgot to put it on my list.

44 species is a pretty good haul for this time of year.

• Black Swallowtail 1
• Giant Swallowtail 3
• Checkered White 20
• Great Southern White 8
• Large Orange Sulphur 5
• Lyside Sulphur 20
• Little Yellow 8
• Mimosa Yellow 1
• Dainty Sulphur 2
• Gray Hairstreak 4
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 8
• Cassius Blue 1
• Ceraunus Blue 1
• Reakirt's Blue 20
• Rounded Metalmark 1
• American Snout 1
• Gulf Fritillary 1
• Zebra Heliconian 1
• Variegated Fritillary 1
• Mexican Fritillary 2
• Bordered Patch 12
• Elada Checkerspot 8
• Texan Crescent 12
• Phaon Crescent 10
• Pearl Crescent 1
• Common Buckeye 1
• Mexican Bluewing 8
• Common Mestra 1
• Empress Leilia 2
• Tawny Emperor 20
• Queen 10
• Long-tailed Skipper 1
• Mournful Duskywing 1
• Funereal Duskywing 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 10
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 20
• Laviana White-Skipper 10
• Julia's Skipper 1
• Clouded Skipper 8
• Southern Skipperling 2
• Fiery Skipper 2
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 1
• Eufala Skipper 2

Progreso Lakes, 10/23/21

The Texas Butterfly Festival is coming up in a week and that means it's time for visiting butterfly watchers.  After few visitors last year because of the pandemic, it was great to see Barbara and Steve today.  They showed up while I was doing some yard work.  We made a few rounds of the yard and didn't see anything great.  But here's a few pics anyway.

This Mexican Bluewing showed up very fresh a few days ago.  I think it may have hatched in our brush patch.  She seems to be looking for a husband.

We got four of the five expected long-tailed skippers, Dorantes Longtail, White-striped Longtail, Brown Longtail and Long-tailed Skipper.  but getting Zilpa Longtail is always tough.

First Double-dotted Skipper I've seen in weeks.  It's got a few extra dots.

Cloudless Sulphur on a Heliconia latispatha.

A striking Gulf Fritillary.

Western Giant Swallowtail caterpillar.

Less than thirty species today so there's still stuff that 's missing.  Warm breezy weather should bring in a few more.

Blue-eyed Sailor, Mercurial Skipper at Progreso Lakes, 12/16/19

Wind was still blowing hard out of the south to southwest this morning and just about the first butterfly I saw was this sharp Blue-eyed Sailor.  They occur in small numbers at nearby Santa Ana NWR so it was not a surprise but still it was great to add it to our yard list.  Wished I could have got a closed wing shot but I'm happy with this one.

Later in the day the wind shifted to the west and we got more good butterflies.  This Mercurial Skipper was yard butterfly #119.  They are pretty rare but are reported most years.

The same purple Duranta also gave us our second Zilpa Longtail.

And a tailless Long-tailed Skipper.

A colorful female Orange-barred Sulphur nectared in the nearby papaya.

Florida Whites and Mexican Yellows are occurring daily.

And even the Boisduval's Yellow appeared.  It seems as though there has been several of them but maybe it's just the same one each day.

Our usual Double-dotted Skipper.

And then there was this skipper.  It seems to lack the costal dashes of a Clouded Skipper but I see no reason to call it a Fawn-spotted so we're left with the rare stuff.  As of now it remains unidentified.

50 species on the day!  Temps are in the 40's and 50's tomorrow so this may be it for awhile.

• Pipevine Swallowtail 1
• Florida White 1
• Checkered White 2
• Great Southern White 1
• Southern Dogface 1
• Cloudless Sulphur 5
• Orange-barred Sulphur 1
• Large Orange Sulphur 1
• Boisduval's Yellow 1
• Mexican Yellow 1
• Little Yellow 3
• Mimosa Yellow 2
• Sleepy Orange 1
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 2
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 2
• Ceraunus Blue 1
• Fatal Metalmark 1
• American Snout 1
• Gulf Fritillary 1
• Texan Crescent 2
• Vesta Crescent 6
• Phaon Crescent 3
• Painted Lady 1
• Red Admiral 1
• White Peacock 2
• Blue-eyed Sailor 1
• Common Mestra 1
• Carolina Satyr 1
• Monarch 2
• Queen 10
• Soldier 1
• Mercurial Skipper 1
• Zilpa Longtail 1
• Long-tailed Skipper 1
• Dorantes Longtail 1
• Brown Longtail 6
• Sickle-winged Skipper 1
• Funereal Duskywing 2
• White Checkered-Skipper 3
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 3
• Laviana White-Skipper 2
• Julia's Skipper 2
• Fawn-spotted Skipper 1
• Clouded Skipper 2
• Double-dotted Skipper 1
• Southern Skipperling 2
• Fiery Skipper 3
• Whirlabout 1
• Common Mellana 1
• Eufala Skipper 2

Progreso Lakes yard, 12/8/19

After the dull early fall and equally dull butterfly festival, things have been taking off.  It was another warm windy day between cool fronts so I spent most of it in the yard, watering my native plants and looking for butterflies.  We've had several Florida Whites in our Progreso Lakes yard this fall but this was the best looking by far.

Here's another Mexican Yellow.  I'm getting them almost daily as of late.

Also saw another Boisduval's Yellow but I could not get a shot.  It might have been the same as this one from three days ago.

I love Brazilian Skippers and this is the first we've had in quite a while.

Ho-hum....just a Double-dotted Skipper.

Finally saw a Gulf Fritillary on our Corky-stemmed Passion Vine and she was laying eggs.

I saw this big skipper with white spots on the wings and it really had me going, but it's just a tailless Long-tailed Skipper.

I'm wondering if two Red-bordered Pixies may have come from our Guamuchil Pixie Tree.

Here's today's list of 44 species.

• Pipevine Swallowtail 1
• Florida White 1
• Checkered White 1
• Cloudless Sulphur 3
• Orange-barred Sulphur 1
• Large Orange Sulphur 2
• Boisduval's Yellow 1
• Mexican Yellow 1
• Little Yellow 2
• Dainty Sulphur 1
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 2
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 5
• Ceraunus Blue 1
• Red-bordered Pixie 2
• American Snout 1
• Gulf Fritillary 1
• Variegated Fritillary 1
• Texan Crescent 2
• Vesta Crescent 2
• Phaon Crescent 1
• Red Admiral 2
• White Peacock 5
• Common Mestra 1
• Carolina Satyr 1
• Monarch 4
• Queen 15
• Long-tailed Skipper 1
• Brown Longtail 5
• Sickle-winged Skipper 3
• White Checkered-Skipper 5
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 2
• Laviana White-Skipper 2
• Fawn-spotted Skipper 2
• Clouded Skipper 3
• Double-dotted Skipper 2
• Southern Skipperling 2
• Fiery Skipper 8
• Whirlabout 4
• Southern Broken-Dash 2
• Sachem 1
• Common Mellana 2
• Brazilian Skipper 1
• Ocola Skipper 1

Progreso Lakes, 11/1/18

This morning a strong cool front blew through our Progreso Lakes yard and after the sun popped out the butterflies went wild.  Finally after two years I was able to add Mexican Bluwing to our yard list.  This ovipositing female was butterfly #109.

A few minutes later I was trying to photo graph a Julia's Skipper when the big bright orange thing flew in.  Ruddy Daggerwing was butterfly #110 for our yard.  It was not far from our little blooming brush holly.  The insignificant flowers of this spiny bush really attract the daggerwings at the National Butterfly Center.  Maybe they drew in this one.

And then my first Mexican Yellow for the year fluttered around the red salvia.

 A couple of Orange-barred Sulphurs were the first I've seen in a while.

Two Long-tailed Skippers show the variability in this species.

Dorantes Longtail.

Finished up the day with 44 species.

Pipevine Swallowtail 2

• Giant Swallowtail 1
• Cloudless Sulphur 10
• Orange-barred Sulphur 2
• Large Orange Sulphur 5
• Lyside Sulphur 3
• Mexican Yellow 1
• Little Yellow 3
• Gray Hairstreak 2
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 2
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 1
• Ceraunus Blue 1
• Rounded Metalmark 3
• Red-bordered Metalmark 6
• American Snout 3
• Gulf Fritillary 2
• Bordered Patch 5
• Vesta Crescent 2
• Phaon Crescent 8
• White Peacock 15
• Mexican Bluewing 1
• Ruddy Daggerwing 1
• Tawny Emperor 8
• Carolina Satyr 5
• Monarch 1
• Queen 80
• Soldier 10
• Long-tailed Skipper 2
• Dorantes Longtail 1
• Brown Longtail 12
• Sickle-winged Skipper 6
• Funereal Duskywing 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 3
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper12
• Laviana White-Skipper 3
• Julia's Skipper 1
• Fawn-spotted Skipper 8
• Clouded Skipper 25
• Southern Skipperling 1
• Fiery Skipper 1
• Whirlabout 2
• Southern Broken-Dash 3
• Common Mellana 2
• Eufala Skipper 2