Zapata Museum of History, 10/22/25

After my good day in Zapata last week I thought it was worth another effort.  Also I noticed I was second on iNaturalist on the list of butterflies for not often visited Zapata County.  Can't have that.  So I got a pretty early start and arrived at the butterfly garden  at the Zapata Museum of History at 9:30.  Queens were already out in force.

Got a photo of the Pipevine Swallowtail I missed last week.

Time to start digging through the skippers.  Lots of Huron Sachems.

I discovered the garden also goes behind the Museum.  Ocola Skippers have really invaded the Valley during the past few weeks.

And then an Ocola with the forewing extending back too far.  Purple-washed Skipper!  There were several, some even showing the extra spot.

And then another new one for my Zapata County list....  Turk's-Cap White-Skipper, a nice female which I don't see very often.

Back in the front was a fresh Skinner's (formerly Coyote) Cloudywing.

And a fresh Julia's Skipper.

And an Olive-clouded Skipper.  Very few records for these last two in Zapata County.

And then another trip to the back netted an Erichson's White-Skipper.  These are probably not rare up here.

38 species seems pretty good for that garden, almost half of them from the familiy Hesperiidae.  As Jeff Bryant said it was a skipperlicious day!

• Pipevine Swallowtail 1
• Southern Dogface 6
• Cloudless Sulphur 5
• Orange-barred Sulphur 20
• Lyside Sulphur 20
• Little Yellow 2
• Sleepy Orange 2
• Gray Hairstreak 10
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 5
• Ceraunus Blue 10
• Fatal Metalmark 1
• American Snout 5
• Gulf Fritillary 15
• Theona Checkerspot 1
• Bordered Patch 3
• Elada Checkerspot 1
• Phaon Crescent 1
• Common Buckeye 1
• White Peacock 8
• Queen 80
• Dorantes Longtail 1
• Coyote Cloudywing 2
• Sickle-winged Skipper 1
• White-patched Skipper 2
• Funereal Duskywing 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 2
• Erichson's White-Skipper 1
• Turk's-cap White-Skipper 1
• Julia's Skipper 1
• Clouded Skipper 25
• Fiery Skipper 40
• Whirlabout 1
• Sachem 25
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 3
• Eufala Skipper 40
• Olive-clouded Skipper 1
• Ocola Skipper 8
• Purple-washed Skipper 5

Happyy New Year from the NBC! 1/1/25

Weather was forecast to be cloudy, cool and drippy so I wasn't sure how to spend this New Years Day.  I wanted to get up early and go birding but the idiot neighbors celebrated in idiot fashin last night and the neighborhood sounded like a war zone.  Hope no one got hit by celebratory gun fire.  But the morning was bright and warmer than I expected so I ran over to the National Butterfly Center.  The sun would pop out periodically and the butterflie activity would pick up.  Best butterfly for the new year was this handsome Falcate Skipper.

Jon Rosford has become quite the insect photographer.  He called me over to show me a caterpillar feeding on the Texas Lantana.  He knew it was a hairstreak and thought maybe a Lantana Scrub-Hairstreak.  Well I've never seen a hairstreak caterpillar so I was happy to get some shots.  After getting home I checked out photos on the BOA site and it didn't quite seem to match to me.  So I thought "How about Marius Hairstreak?"  Photos seemed to match.  I entered the photos into iNaturalist and Marius Hairstreak was the AI driven conclusion also.

Here's an adult Marius Hairstrak.  They have been fairly common this fall/winter.  I saw one just like it at Quinta Mazatlan yesterday.

On the lantana with the Marius cat was this Olive-clouded Skipper.  The second image is one I photographed yesterday at Quinta.  I like the red evil eye!

Quite few butterflies were on the wing but nothing else rare.  I may enter a list later.

Progreso Lakes, 1/11/18

Not a lot has been going on in the Valley after all the cold weather.  Here's what I saw in our Progreso Lakes yard today.  Best was this Olive-clouded Skipper.

It was also nice to see a Julia's Skipper.

Everyone loves Monarchs.  Here's my first of the year.

• Great Southern White 1
• Cloudless Sulphur 2
• Lyside Sulphur 1
• Little Yellow 1
• Gray Hairstreak 1
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 1
• Western Pygmy-Blue 1
• American Snout 2
• Carolina Satyr 1
• Monarch 1
• Queen 3
• White Checkered-Skipper 5
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 3
• Laviana White-Skipper 1
• Julia's Skipper 1
• Clouded Skipper 5
• Southern Skipperling 1
• Fiery Skipper 2
• Olive-clouded Skipper 1

Progreso Lakes, 10/19/17

Wow!  What a great day in our yard at Progreso Lakes.  I had to stay home for the plumber and started casually looking around the yard.  First good butterfly was a female Statira Sulphur.  I later found a male.

After dealing with the plumber, I went back outside and quickly found this ratty Mexican Yellow, yard butterfly #91.  I was expecting to get one sometime during the winter.  Now I wonder if I'll see a bunch of them.

Things slowed down a while and I was about to quit when this Dorantes Longtail popped in.

I had earlier gotten White-striped Longtail.

And as usual there were plenty of Brown Longtails.

This nice Double-dotted Skipper was an afternoon surprise.  I usually get them early in the day.

I made one more round of our one acre yard, checking the purple Duranta.  It's had few floweres lately.  I notice a boldly marked female White Checkered-Skipper and thought that it looked a bit like an Erichson's White-Skipper.  But it wasn't.  I was going to quit for the day and thought I should check the garden one last time.  And guess what I found.  Of all things, it was an Erichson's White-Skipper.  I could not believe it.  I thought it was a possibility for our yard but might take years to get one.  #92!

And for good measure I saw another little grass skipper that turned out to be Olive-Clouded Skipper.

Finished the day with another new high, 47 species.

• Pipevine Swallowtail 2
• Giant Swallowtail 1
• Cloudless Sulphur 10
• Large Orange Sulphur 3
• Statira Sulphur 2
• Lyside Sulphur 2
• Mexican Yellow 1
• Tailed Orange 1
• Little Yellow 6
• Mimosa Yellow 3
• Gray Hairstreak 1
• Rounded Metalmark 2
• Red-bordered Metalmark 1
• American Snout 1
• Gulf Fritillary 1
• Bordered Patch 3
• Phaon Crescent 8
• Pearl Crescent 2
• Painted Lady 3
• White Peacock 10
• Carolina Satyr 1
• Monarch 2
• Queen 30
• Soldier 3
• White-striped Longtail 1
• Dorantes Longtail 1
• Brown Longtail 8
• Mimosa Skipper 1
• Sickle-winged Skipper 3
• Mournful Duskywing 2
• Funereal Duskywing 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 8
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 5
• Erichson's White-Skipper 1
• Laviana White-Skipper 6
• Turk's-cap White-Skipper 1
• Julia's Skipper 2
• Clouded Skipper 10
• Double-dotted Skipper 1
• Southern Skipperling 3
• Fiery Skipper 10
• Whirlabout 3
• Southern Broken-Dash 2
• Sachem 2
• Common Mellana 1
• Eufala Skipper 3
• Olive-clouded Skipper 1

Gold-spotted Aguna at Progreso Lakes, 10/3/17

Well, I got started a little late in the yard today.  It was cloudy with a threat of rain.  But it didn't take long to pick up a new yard Butterfly, Olive-clouded Skipper.  I found a second better looking one a little later.

I saw some more butterflies after the sun popped out and spent some time birding. Then it got cloudy again so I checked out the purple Duranta wondering what might appear before the approaching rain.  I saw a spreadwing skipper with a white band and recognized it as an Aguna.  I was hoping for Emerald but will be happy with Gold-spotted, a very good yard butterfly.

Then the rains came and I noticed a Queen sitting on the coral bean.  'Cept it wasn't a Queen, It was our yard first Soldier, bringing our yard total to 83.

Other good stuff during the morning included a Double-dotted Skipper with it's long proboscis.

And a couple of Turk's-cap White-Skippers.

The Cassius Blues were a little dark today but they're not Marines.

A nice looking Southern Skipperling.

If I look hard enough I can just about always find a Mimosa Skipper in the yard.

A new butterfly for the yard yesterday was this ratty Brazilian Skipper.

And the day before that we added a not so rare Rounded Metalmark.

And the good butterfly season is just getting started.

Giant Swallowtail 1

• Cloudless Sulphur 8
• Large Orange Sulphur 4
• Little Yellow 4
• Mimosa Yellow 1
• Sleepy Orange 1
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 1
• Western Pygmy-Blue 1
• Cassius Blue 5
• Ceraunus Blue 5
• Gulf Fritillary 2
• Vesta Crescent 1
• Phaon Crescent 1
• Pearl Crescent 2
• Painted Lady 2
• White Peacock 5
• Tawny Emperor 1
• Queen 2
• Soldier 1
• Gold-spotted Aguna 1
• Brown Longtail 2
• Sickle-winged Skipper 4
• Mournful Duskywing 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 3
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 8
• Laviana White-Skipper 4
• Turk's-cap White-Skipper 2
• Fawn-spotted Skipper 2
• Clouded Skipper 12
• Double-dotted Skipper 1
• Southern Skipperling 2
• Fiery Skipper 1
• Whirlabout 2
• Southern Broken-Dash 1
• Common Mellana 1
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 2
• Eufala Skipper 1
• Olive-clouded Skipper 2

Chestnut Crescent at Estero, 2/8/17

Several Chestnut Crescents have been seen lately at the National Butterfly Center including a male yesterday.  So when Rick Snider reported a male this afternoon at Estero Llano Grande State Park, I thought I'd better run over and try to see it.  Well I failed to find it but got a surprise female Chestnut Crescent instead.  I think it's just my fourth sighting of this rare Mexican butterfly.

And then just a few minutes later I saw my second ever Falcate Orangetip but could not manage a photo.  I did get my first Brown-banded Skipper of the year.

There were at least three Julia Heliconians.

A tattered Band-celled Sister.

It had been several years since my last Olive-clouded Skipper so I was happy to find this one.

Female Whirlabouts always make me do a double-take.

As do worn White-patched Skipper.

And then there was this one.  It was about the size of a Julia's Skipper but seemed way too dark to me.  I'm still waiting for some expert commentary on this bug.

90 degree in Feb. sure brings out the butterflies.