Another Osca Skipper at Progreso Lakes, 12/11/21

I was hoping something good had blown in yesterday on the strong southerly winds and that I could find it in our Progreso Lakes yard before the approaching cold front would blast in.  Temperature was in the 70's but it was cloudy and I wasn't finding much.  Then a spotted skipper flew past my head and tangled with a Clouded Skipper and then diasappeared.  Hmmm..... I went back to the plumbago patch and there it was........ Our second Osca Skipper for this fall!  Most people would be happy to see one of these rare skippers from Mexico.  I've now managed to find three of them.  And this one posed for photos.

And just a few minutes later the cold front rocketed through and that was the end of butterflying for the day.  Here's a list from yesterday and today.

• Pipevine Swallowtail 1
• Giant Swallowtail 1
• Checkered White 1
• Giant White 1
• Southern Dogface 1
• Cloudless Sulphur 5
• Large Orange Sulphur 5
• Boisduval's Yellow 1
• Little Yellow 2
• Mimosa Yellow 1
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 1
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 1
• Reakirt's Blue 1
• Gulf Fritillary 6
• Mexican Silverspot 1
• Pale-banded Crescent 1
• Phaon Crescent 1
• Red Admiral 4
• White Peacock 4
• Tawny Emperor 1
• Carolina Satyr 10
• Monarch 1
• Queen 8
• Soldier 4
• Long-tailed Skipper 1
• Dorantes Longtail 5
• Brown Longtail 5
• Sickle-winged Skipper 3
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 8
• Laviana White-Skipper 3
• Clouded Skipper 25
• Osca Skipper 1
• Double-dotted Skipper 1
• Southern Skipperling 1
• Whirlabout 1
• Southern Broken-Dash 1
• Common Mellana 1
• Eufala Skipper 1

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.