Trans-Pecos Trip, Davis Mnts, 4/9/25

It rained during the night as a front came through and dropped the morning low into the upper 40's in Alpine.  But the forecast said high in the 70's so maybe things would be OK butterfly wise.  I headed north up TX 118 toward Fort Davis and was happy to see stuff blooming along the highway.  But it was way too cold for bugs.  So I stopped by Davis Moutains State Park to check the bird feeders and let things warm up.  Nothing fantastic but it was nice to see a few western birds up close like this Acorn Woodpecker and Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay.

The day was warming up nicely so I got back on the road and drove toward the high country.  My goal was to look for skippers.  It was also dry up here in the Davis Mountains.  Past the solar demonstration park, I saw a few tiny flowers along the road and stopped.  I found a skipper but it was the common Huron Sachem.

And then a beat up Arizona Powdered-Skipper.

And then a dark cloudywing with a pale underwing edge.  This is the albosuffusa subspecies of Northern Cloudywing.  Nick Grishin has decided this taxon merits specific status.  He calls this one Cecropterus albosuffusa, White-washed Cloudywing.  I've seen it before and called it Northern Cloudywing.  It goes by both names on iNaturalist.

And some more albosuffusa.

A brightly patterned duskywing was a female Mournful Duskywing.

We rarely get Orange Skipperings in the RGV so it was nice to see a few.

A half mile up the road I made another stop and was rewarded with what I had hoped was a rare roadside-skipper.  But upon further review it was a Sheep Skipper.  At least it was a Texas lifer and one I had hoped for on this trip

Another mile up the road I finally got a real Amblyscirtes roadside-skipper.  But it was the common Dotted Roadside-Skipper.

I pulled into the grounds of the McDonald Observatory at noon and it was clouding up.  I parked by a field and watched Western Bluebirds as I ate my lunch.  

No time for tourist stuff.  I had butterflies to find.  I walked the field which had some purple Verbena like stuff and found my only Painted Lady and Southern Dogface for the trip.

I drove up towards the telescopes where I had seen Poling's Hairstreaks a few years ago but there was nothing in bloom.  So I drove back out to the highway and hoped for flowers and sun.  About two miles down the road I found these fuzzy legume like things.  And more Dotted Roadside-Skippers.

And then an orange thing caught my eye.  An orange thing with white dots...  Dang.  I didn't know what it was but I knew it was a good one.  I got a few shots and consulted the field guide.  Pahaska Skipper!  Not many Texas records for this one.

Little was going on at the LE Wood Picnic Area and it was thinking about raining.  More rain was off to the north.  So I headed back towards Fort Davis and it just got wetter and colder.  No more butterflies for this day.  Not a fantastic day but OK.  I wanted Oslar's and Simius Roadside-Skippers but I'll be happy with the Pahaska.

Big Bend National Park, Pine Canyon, 10/11/14

I had not managed to get out to Big Bend National Park this year, so I took advantage of an opportunity to go this past weekend before the cold front came through.  I really wanted to go up the Emory Peak trail to look for Troy Hibbet's Chisos Giant-Skippers but decided I wasn't up to  the nine mile hike so I decided to make a run up Pine Canyon instead.  It's been a wet fall so far and the flowers were spectacular.

And though I didn't find anything unusual, there were tons of butterflies and I managed to see 32 species on the two mile hike up to the Pine Canyon Pouroff.  Best for me was my first Rawson's Metalmark.

I tried hard to turn this into the regional Chinati Checkerspot.  The under wing pattern agrees but the upper surface looks like the widespread Theona Checkerspot.

I saw more Mexican Yellow's than all my previous sightings combined.

Only one Questionmark, but it was a doozy.

I can't resist a good California Sister.

And there were plenty of Orange Skipperlings.

I searched dozens of Elada Checkerspots hoping to find a Tiny Checkerspot but I failed.

Here's my list for the day.

• Checkered White 20
• Orange Sulphur 1
• Southern Dogface 40
• Cloudless Sulphur 1
• Lyside Sulphur 1
• Mexican Yellow 25
• Sleepy Orange 30
• Dainty Sulphur 25
• Gray Hairstreak 4
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 1
• Marine Blue 2
• Reakirt's Blue 20
• Rawson's Metalmark 1
• American Snout 15
• Variegated Fritillary 30
• Theona Checkerspot 1
• Bordered Patch 10
• Elada Crescent 30
• Texan Crescent 5
• Vesta Crescent 10
• Question Mark 1
• American Lady 1
• Painted Lady 5
• Common Buckeye 2
• California Sister 8
• Common Mestra 15
• Monarch 3
• Queen 4
• Funereal Duskywing 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 1
• Desert Checkered-Skipper 20
• Orange Skipperling 20

Kickapoo Cavern State Park, 5/17/14

This weekend Honey and I drove up to Kickapoo Cavern State Park north of Bracketville to camp and check out the park.  I was hoping for some new butterflies but not a lot was going on as the continuing drought has everything fried to a crisp.  Very little was in bloom but that doesn't seem to matter to Red Satyrs.

In the afternoon we drove up FM 674 in Edwards County and managed to find a few flowers.  Even though it's common across the entire county, this was my first Dun Skipper.  I surprised to find it such an attractive skipper.

A little patch of frog fruit attracted a Theona Checkerspot.

And an Orange Skipperling.

But other than a few Pipevine Swallowtails, Gulf Fritillaries, Reakirt's Blues, Sleepy Oranges and Lyside Sulphurs, that was it. 

Davis Mountains 7/9/13

Earlier this week I jumped at the opportunity to run up to Bosque del Apache NWR to see the first US occurrence of Rufous-necked Wood-Rail.  So on the way back I wandered through the Davis Mountains and managed to find some new (for me) butterflies.  With the recent rains there were lots of wildfloweres and butterflies were easy to find.  These were photographed near or at the Lawence E. Wood picnic area.

Here's a Canyonland Satyr, Cyllopsis pertepida.

This is the white-edged race of the Northern Cloudywing, Thorybes pylades albosuffusa.

Orange Skipperlings Copaeodes aurantiacus are hard to find in the RGV.

I guess this is a Cassus Roadside-Skipper Amblyscirtes cassus.

South of El Paso at the rest area on I-10, just before the highway ascends towards Sierra Blanca, I found my first Tiny Checkerspot Dymasia dymas.

And here is the purpose of my trip.  The tropical mangrove-loving Rufous-necked Wood-Rail.  What it's doing up at Bosque del Apache is anyone's guess.