Black Hairstreak at National Butterfly Center, 12/21/15

I took it easy this morning, thinking about where I might go today.  Chris Balboni had a pretty good report from Yturria Brush.  Or maybe I'll stay home and watch football.  It was warm and yesterday had a good south wind so I decided to just go over to the National Butterfly Center.  As I passed the front garden I noticed a Mallow Scrub Hairstreak and though maybe it'll be a good hairstreak day.

I checked in. and proceeded to the sunken garden.  Lantana Scrub-Hairstreaks continue.

I was disappointed to see little on the brush holly that was blooming so heavily just a couple of days ago.  They bloom out fast.  So I checked the blooming fiddlewoods and got a Dusky-blue Groundstreak.

It was getting close to luch time so I started to wander back to the visitor's center and noticed Chris Balboni and Ryan Shaw looking at the litte brush holly.  I yelled "What you got?"  Ryan shouted "Some weird hairstreak."  

I ran over and recognized it immediately.  Black Hairstreak!  I had been waiting for this Mexican visitor since I missed the last one ten years ago.  It just sat there feeding on the few brush holly flowers that were left on the plant.  I guess I had missed it just a few minutes earlier.  What a cool hairstreak.  The photos in the book didn't do it justice.  RGV lifer #230.

After lunch I found a Great Purple Hairstreak up high in the chomonque.

And then I found a Clytie Ministreak in a nearby fiddlewood.  This one is a beauty.

Finally John Rosford found my seventh hairstreak for the day, Marius Haistreak.  I missed common Gray and Silver-banded Hairstreaks. 

He also got me a lifer hemipteran which I haven't IDed yet.

Mimosa Skipper is uncommon at the NBC but easier to find at Santa Ana and Resaca de la Palma where the host Black Mimosa is more common.

Some visitng birders from my old stomping grounds at New Mexico State were happy to see a Red Rim.

There have been several reports of Mexican Silverspot in the Valley lately and people wanted to see one.  Jon McIntyre found this one today by the corky-steed passionvine where they have oviposited in the past.

Wow!  What a good day!  A big fresh Malachite wished me "Adios" as I left.

No cold weather in the forecast.  Dry and 80's.  More good stuff on the way.

Good south wind at Progreso Lakes, 10/16/22

Our first cold front of the fall is due tomorrow and that usually sucks up warm wind from the south before it arrives.  So I made a conscious effort to run up a butterfly list for our Progreso Lakes yard today.  Our yard is also blooming nicely and combined with the southerly wind my expectations were high.  As it turned out, there were a lot of butterflies but not anything unusual.  I think it may take a few more fronts and a few more days of southerly wind to bring up the good stuff.

Butterfly of the day goes to a couple of Fawn-spotted Skippers.  Formerly common in our yard, this species was wiped out by last year's February freeze.  These are the first I've seen since then though they are still present in the Brownsville area.

Mimosa Skippers are a specialty of the mid and lower RGV.  They use the thorny pink flowered   

mimosas that line the ditches and resacas to as a host plant.  Today I had five which is pretty unusal.

The wind brought a Mazan's Scallopwing to the yard.  We only get one or two per year.

White-patched Skippers are finally showing after a long absense.

Dorantes Longtails have also just arrived.  It seems many butterflies time their reproduction to coincide with the fall flower season.

Soldiers have recently marched into the yard for the fall.

Here's today's list of 51 species.

• Pipevine Swallowtail 1
• Giant Swallowtail 5
• Cloudless Sulphur 8
• Large Orange Sulphur 4
• Lyside Sulphur 2
• Little Yellow 10
• Mimosa Yellow 2
• Gray Hairstreak 1
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 3
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 2
• Clytie Ministreak 1
• Western Pygmy-Blue 5
• Ceraunus Blue 6
• Rounded Metalmark 6
• Red-bordered Metalmark 10
• American Snout 200
• Gulf Fritillary 5
• Bordered Patch 10
• Pearl Crescent   1
• Vesta Crescent 5
• Phaon Crescent 5
• Painted Lady 1
• Red Admiral 1
• White Peacock 15
• Tawny Emperor 8
• Queen 50
• Soldier 5
• White-striped Longtail 3
• Dorantes Longtail 1
• Brown Longtail 8
• Mimosa Skipper 5
• Mazans Scallopwing 1
• Sickle-winged Skipper 60
• White-patched Skipper 1
• Mournful Duskywing 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 6
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 8
• Laviana White-Skipper 12
• Turk's-cap White-Skipper 1
• Common Sootywing 2
• Julia's Skipper 3
• Fawn-spotted Skipper 2
• Clouded Skipper 50
• Double-dotted Skipper 4
• Southern Skipperling 3
• Fiery Skipper 6
• Whirlabout 6
• Southern Broken-Dash 10
• Common Mellana 10
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 6
• Eufala Skipper 8

Osca Skipper at Progreso Lakes, 10/14/21

Late summer and the first part of fall this year has produced little in the way of interesting butterflies in our Progreso Lakes yard.  Probably just a hangover from the big freeze in February.  Then I was gone for a couple of weeks out west and I returned to find the crucita blooming and lots of butterflies.  With a strong warm southeasterly wind today and an Emerald Aguna at the National Butterfly Center, I thought it might be a good time to work the yard over for butterflies.  My reward was our first Osca Skipper!  This rare Mexican grass skipper is reported very infrequently in the RGV of south Texas.  It was butterfly #132 for our yard.  It was not a lifer though as I had found one back in Oct of 2011 at the National Butterfly Center.

I did a double take on this Florida White and had to run inside and check the book.  I've never seen a female this dark.

There was a beat up Wester Giant Swallowtail flapping around me and I ignored it till it landed nearby.  I took a few shots only to discover it was a very yellow Ornythion Swallowtail.  It was the fifth ever for our yard.

First Purple-washed Skipper for the year.

Mimosa Skippers have been hard to come by this year.

Lots of Soldiers and Queens in the yard today.  These copulating Soldiers say "Dont ask.  Dont tell."

I had a list of 29 species for today but I forgot to copy it.  More southerly winds ahead of a cold front are forecast for tomorrow so more good stuff is possible.

Polydamas Madness at Progreso Lakes, 7/16/20

Last year I had lots of Polydamas Swallowtail caterpillars on the Giant Dutchman's Pipevine in our yard at Progreso Lakes but I saw few fresh adults.  So this year I've been collecting a few fat cats to raise safely away from predators.  This morning one that was running a little late finally emerged.

This is the second one that's eclosed in captivity but they seem to be doing pretty good on their own this year.  I saw five at once today with several ovipositing.

The same female Ornythion Swallowtail from two days ago was back.

Big lazy Western Giant Swallowtail.

Still two Yellow Angled-Sulphurs.  That makes 14 straight days.

Butterfly numbers are way down which seems to correlate well with mosquitos.  I didn't get a single bite.  Nice to see a Mimosa Skipper.

I've left a lot of the Wireweeds to grow this year.  They really attract a lot of butterflies in the Fall with their purple aster like flowers.  I think they are also a host for Pearl Crescent which I saw in the yard today.

Chance of rain the next few days.  We could sure use some.

Hermit Skipper at Progreso Lakes, 9/14/17

Wow!  What a day!  It was a bit windy this morning so I decided to work in our butterfly garden and enjoy the breeze before the heat turned on.  After two hours of digging up grass along the edges, I decided I was about worn out and would check out the butterflies.  Not much happening in the garden so I checked out our very productive Purple Duranta.  A Pipevine Swallowtail played in the wind and then I saw something white with dark edges.  Female Florida White!  Yard butterfly #74.

I had a difficult time with the Florida White as it played in the wind and refused to stay put.  And then suddenly this big brown spreadwing skipper lands right in front of me.  I knew what it was since everyone seemed to be posting photos of Hermit Skippers on Face Book lately.  A species I had chased several times and failed to see, Hermit Skipper was one of my nemesis species.  This was RGV butterfly #208 for me.

Another Yellow Angled-Sulphur was a sharp male.

I saw two Painted Ladies today.

Meanwhile the butterfly garden on the other side of the yard was picking up with two White-patched Skippers.

And a Mimosa Skipper.  With the river nearby and ditches with the thorny pink mimosa, I bet I will see more of these guys in the future.

And a Sickle-winged Skipper.

And then another Florida White,this one a little scruffier than the other but more cooperative.

Finished the day with thirty species.

• Pipevine Swallowtail 1
• Giant Swallowtail 1
• Florida White 2
• Yellow Angled-Sulphur 1
• Cloudless Sulphur 5
• Large Orange Sulphur 2
• Lyside Sulphur 1
• Little Yellow 4
• Mimosa Yellow 1
• Western Pygmy-Blue 1
• Ceraunus Blue 3
• American Snout 2
• Gulf Fritillary 1
• Painted Lady 2
• White Peacock 1
• Brown Longtail 2
• Mimosa Skipper 1
• Sickle-winged Skipper 1
• Hermit Skipper 1
• White-patched Skipper 2
• Mournful Duskywing 1
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 6
• Laviana White-Skipper 2
• Fawn-spotted Skipper 1
• Clouded Skipper 4
• Southern Skipperling 1
• Fiery Skipper 1
• Southern Broken-Dash 1
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 1
• Eufala Skipper 1