Fireworks Continue at NBC, 7/5/26

It's hot and dry in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of south Texas, but the good butterflies keep coming.  Gotta get em before they fry!  Still getting hairstreaks.  Along with the usual for this summer Clench's, Ruddy and Marius, I found this guy.  It kind of looks like an Orange-crescent Groundstreak but I'm not getting a lot of support for that ID.  Most think it's a Ruddy.

My first Statira Sulphur for the year was in front in the white Duranta.

Nearby was a Brown-banded Skipper.  Woody found a second in the nursery.

Giant Whites were in the Mexican Orchid.

There were at least two Gray Crackers on the bait logs.

It took me several tries to finally see the Dingy Purplewing.

It was getting really hot and I was ready to head home when Woody reported two Ruddy Dagerwings by the nursery.

Today's list of 53 species

• Giant Swallowtail 10
• Checkered White 2
• Great Southern White 20
• Giant White 2
• Cloudless Sulphur 2
• Large Orange Sulphur 20
• Statira Sulphur 1
• Lyside Sulphur 40
• Little Yellow 3
• Dainty Sulphur 2
• Marius Hairstreak 3
• Clench's Greenstreak 8
• Gray Hairstreak 2
• Red-crescent Scrub-Hairstreak 1
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 5
• Ruddy Hairstreak 1
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 6
• Clytie Ministreak 6
• Cassius Blue 3
• Ceraunus Blue 3
• Red-bordered Metalmark 1
• Curve-winged Metalmark 2
• American Snout 500
• Gulf Fritillary 2
• Mexican Fritillary 2
• Theona Checkerspot 1
• Bordered Patch 3
• Elada Checkerspot 1
• Texan Crescent 2
• Pale-banded Crescent 3
• Phaon Crescent 5
• Question Mark 1
• White Peacock 10
• Mexican Bluewing 12
• Dingy Purplewing 1
• Gray Cracker 2
• Ruddy Daggerwing 2
• Tropical Leafwing 8
• Empress Leilia 1
• Tawny Emperor 25
• Queen 3
• Soldier 2
• Brown Longtail 5
• Brown-banded Skipper 2
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 10
• Laviana White-Skipper 5
• Clouded Skipper 10
• Southern Skipperling 1
• Whirlabout 3
• Southern Broken-Dash 3
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 5
• Eufala Skipper 2
• Mexican Crescent 10

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Orange-crescent Groundstreak, Green-backed Ruby-eye at NBC,12/1/19

A gentle cool front blew in last night dropping temperatures to the 60's so I spent the morning at home looking at birds.  However yesterday an Orange-crescent Groundstreak was found at the National Butterfly Center south of Mission so as the day warmed a little I thought I might give it a try.  I was examining the Dusky-blue Groundstreaks in a clump of whitebrush when Phil Kelly joined me in the search.  Just then word came over Phil's walkie talkie of a Green-backed Ruby-eye in the south garden by the old visitor's center.  A brisk run of a couple of hundred yards got me there in time to get a few shots.  Big tropical grass skippers with their long probosci seem to enjoy the esperanza flowers.  I've seen Brazilian, Guava and Double-dotted Skippers feeding the same way.

As is the nature of Green-backed Ruby-eyes, it darted around a lot and was hard to photograph.  The nearby Tropical Leafwing was begging for attention though.

So I headed back to the whitebrush and with some effort managed to find the Orange-crescent Groundstreak among the Dusky-blues.  This was a much wanted life butterfly for me, # 212 for the Valley.  In fact my last RGV lifer was the Green-backed Ruby-eye on 11/28/17!

Here's the common Dusky-blue Groundstreak.

This past week has gone from dull to sizzling!