Yturria Brush, 2/16/26

Recently Terry Mortier and Corrine McDonald each reported blooming Chomonque and a few butterflies at the Yturria Brush unit of the Lower Rio Grande Valley NWR west of La Joya so I thought it was time to make a visit.  I found the refuge extremely dry with many plants leafless.  A few were trying to sprout spring leaves and Huisachillo was starting to bloom.  As reported the Chomonques were in full bloom though looking ragged.  They had gotten enough rain last summer to pull off one last brave attempt to reproduce despite the dry fall and winter.  Though rather homely, this subtropical composite really attracts the butterflies.  Maybe because it's the only game in town.

Working the trail from the old parking lot by the freeway it didn't take long to find a Skinner's Cloudywing.

Chomonques are good at attracting hairstreaks but all I found were a few Gray Hairstreaks.

My targets for the day were Nysa Roadside-Skipper and Common Streaky Skipper.  I was hopeful when I spied a tiny brown butterfly flying low like a patrolling skipper.  Not my target but still pretty good, Texas Powdered Skipper.

Southern Dogfaces were out.

Then a couple more tiny brown guys.  Got my Nysa Roadside-Skipper!

My original plan was to go to the National Butterfly Center after lunch but things were going good at Yturria so I stayed for another perusal of the trail.  Another small brown skipper was feeding on Chomonque.  My first impression was another Texas Powdered Skipper but this one turned out to be a Caballo (the old name Potrillo is for the Caribbean taxon) Skipper.  First I've seen at Yturria.

Then a tiny black thing.  It's not every day you get a Common Sootywing at eye level.

Texan Crescents were a bit unexpected.

Variegated Fritillary is usually pretty common out in the desert.

It's hard to turn down a White-striped Longtail.

I didn't find the Common Streaky Skipper but still a good three hours with 22 species.

• Black Swallowtail 1
• Southern Dogface 10
• Cloudless Sulphur 1
• Lyside Sulphur 20
• Sleepy Orange 10
• Gray Hairstreak 3
• Reakirt's Blue 5
• American Snout 50
• Texan Crescent 8
• Vesta Crescent 3
• Phaon Crescent 1
• Empress Leilia 5
• Queen 1
• White-striped Longtail 1
• Coyote Cloudywing 1
• Potrillo Skipper 1
• Texas Powdered-Skipper 2
• Funereal Duskywing 1
• Laviana White-Skipper 1
• Common Sootywing 1
• Sachem 1
• Nysa Roadside-Skipper 2

More Good Stuff at the NBC, 9-21-24

It's been nine days since the Glaucous Crackers were found at the National Butterfly Center and lep enthusiasts have been finding other good stuff in the mean time while searching for the crackers.  I ran over there today hoping for a male Glaucous Cracker.  I thought this one was a male when I first found it but now I'm not so sure.  The wing tips are pale like a male.

It's bee a few years since I've seen a Tailed Cecropian.  This one really showed nicely.

Third rare species to be seen today was this Pale-spotted Leafwing.

I've never seen so many Tropical Leafwings, at least forty of them.  Here are five with a Tawny Emperor.

This Nysa Roadside-Skipper is the 94th species to be seen at the National Butterfly Center this September.  There can be lots of butterflies in September but this diversity is unusual.

It nice to be getting a few Zebra Heliconias.  They were absent all summer.

Lots of Mexican Bluewings too.

Looks like the rains in Mexico have produced lots of good butterflies so more good stuff may be on the way.

National Butterfly Center, 2/24/24

Things at the National Butterfly Center are trying to recover form the hard freeze this winter.  Some good rain last week and warm temperatures have got trees leafing out and flowers blooming.  39 species for the day is a pretty good February total.  The Mexican Bluewings were putting on a show,

My first Texas Powdered-Skippers for the year.  They like to hang out int he ditch.

Three Turk's-Cap White-Skippers were on the big Azureum patch by the trail that crosses the ditch.  Probably over half my day's butterflies were from that patch.

I think it's been a few years since my last Nysa Roadside-Skipper.

One Celia Roadside-Skipper looked kind of normal and the other was pretty freaky.

First Sachem of the year.

What a fantastic Southern Broken-Dash!

Five of the butterflies I saw today were new for the month at the National Butterfly Center bringing the February total to 70.

• Pipevine Swallowtail 1
• Black Swallowtail 1
• Checkered White 5
• Orange Sulphur 3
• Southern Dogface 1
• Cloudless Sulphur 1
• Lyside Sulphur 5
• Little Yellow 6
• Gray Hairstreak 3
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 2
• Fatal Metalmark 2
• American Snout 8
• Gulf Fritillary 5
• Bordered Patch 2
• Phaon Crescent 30
• Pearl Crescent 1
• American Lady 3
• Red Admiral 25
• Mexican Bluewing 8
• Empress Leilia 2
• Queen 10
• Texas Powdered-Skipper 2
• Funereal Duskywing 2
• White Checkered-Skipper 10
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 30
• Laviana White-Skipper 15
• Turk's-cap White-Skipper 3
• Common Sootywing 1
• Clouded Skipper 20
• Double-dotted Skipper 1
• Southern Skipperling 3
• Fiery Skipper 15
• Whirlabout 25
• Southern Broken-Dash 1
• Sachem 2
• Common Mellana 3
• Nysa Roadside-Skipper 1
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 2
• Eufala Skipper 20

Yturria Brush, 3/14/15

I decided to make another run out to Yturria Brush today hoping to find an Erichson's Skipper.  Yturria Brush is a tract of the Lower Rio Grande Valley NWR and is located a couple of miles west of La Joya. The day started sunny but was cloudy by noon.  Small brown and gray skippers were the order of the day.  It took 2.5 miles of walking but eventually I did find an Erichson's White-Skipper.

The only other white-skipper for the day was this Turk's-cap White-Skipper.

Fifteen Nysa Roadside-Skippers were an all time high for me.  After all the cool wet weather, these early spring butterflies seem very boldly marked and harrier than usual to me.  I wonder if that is a function of diet or weather.

I also saw over a dozen Common Streaky-Skippers.

Texas Powdered-Skippers were equally common.

Most of the checkered-skippers were White (or Common) Checkered-Skipper.

But I did get a few Desert Checkered-Skippers.

Maybe it will warm up soon and I can photograph something besides small colorless skippers.

Yturria Brush, 3/4/15

It's been a long cold, damp winter so I have not posted anything in a while.  Yes, there's been a few butterflies around but, not many, and nothing too interesting.  Yesterday I ran over to the Yturria Brush unit of the Lower Rio Grande Valley NWR to see some of the butterflies Mike Rickard has reported lately. Things started slowly but eventually the sun popped out and drove temps up into the 80s.  Butterlies out there tend to have more of a "western" flavor than in other parts of the RGV.  I saw several Common Streaky-Skippers.

One of my main targets was Nysa Roadside-Skipper.  None of them would pose with closed wings but you can see the checkered fringe on the fore wings.

Small and dark was the order of the day.  This winter form Sickle-winged Skipper is pretty sharp.

Texas Powdered-Skipper is pretty much guaranteed at Yturria Brush and Santa Ana NWR.

Another specialty at Yturria Brush is the Desert Checkered-Skipper.

My first Lantana Scrub-Hairstreak of the year did not give me much of a photo opp.  This was my only shot.

Mike had also reported a teneral baskettail dragonfly out there which he suspected was a Dot-winged Baskettail but identification from his photos was inconclusive.  Baskettails are a difficult bunch to ID. Fortunately one "hung up" right in front of me and proved to be a Dot-winged Baskettail, a first record for the Rio Grande Valley.  Thanks Mike!

Today it's about fifty degrees colder than yesterday so I'm glad I took advantage of yesterday's warm weather.

Giant Swallowtail 1
Southern Dogface 6
Large Orange Sulphur 1
Lyside Sulphur 20
Little Yellow 1
Sleepy Orange 2
Dainty Sulphur 10
Gray Hairstreak 1
Lantana Scrub-Hairstreak 1
Reakirt's Blue 3
American Snout 1
Vesta Crescent 30
Red Admiral 3
Texas Powdered-Skipper 5
Sickle-winged Skipper 1
Funereal Duskywing 2
White Checkered-Skipper 3
Desert Checkered-Skipper 2
Laviana White-Skipper 5
Common Streaky-Skipper 4
Common Sootywing 5
Fiery Skipper 1
Nysa Roadside-Skipper 4
Eufala Skipper 5