Starred Skipper at National Butterfly Center, 1/1/26

Happy New Year!  Well Dennis Vollmar did it again.  Because of our phenomenal butterfly fall in the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas, Dennis flew up from Florida a second time this season to look for vagrant leps.  Back on 12/28/21 I was present at the park when Dennis found the first US record for Tanned Blue-Skipper.  This morning he found another mega rare butterfly, Starred Skipper.  Back in October Terry Mortier found a worn Starred Skipper but no one else saw it.  However this fresh specimen put on a show for all who were in the park today.  It is a species I have long wanted to see and my 233rd for the RGV.

A bit earlier I thought the New Years bug of the day would be this Angled Leafwing.

This season bright male Pavon Emperors are not a big deal.

The same with Silver Emperors.

Young birder phenoms Ryan Rodriguez and Nolan Walker found a Guatemalan Cracker.

The Malachite a few inches away drew little fanfare.

The hairstreak show continued today with nine speces.  The rare Black Hairstreak returned and was the second best butterfly of the day.

Other hairstreaks included Marius and Silver-banded Hairstreaks and the charming Clytie Ministreak.

I forgot the beat up White Scrub-hairstreak.

This big Scolia guttata is a first for the RGV according to iNaturalist.

Warm weather continues.  Full steam ahead!

• Ruby-spotted Swallowtail 1
• Checkered White 1
• Giant White 1
• Orange Sulphur 1
• Large Orange Sulphur 4
• Lyside Sulphur 6
• Little Yellow 3
• Black Hairstreak 1
• Silver-banded Hairstreak 3
• Gray Hairstreak 1
• White Scrub-Hairstreak 1
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 4
• Lantana Scrub-Hairstreak 2
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 8
• Clytie Ministreak 3
• Western Pygmy-Blue 1
• Ceraunus Blue 6
• Fatal Metalmark 3
• Red-bordered Pixie 4
• American Snout 8
• Gulf Fritillary 5
• Zebra Heliconian 3
• Bordered Patch 1
• Texan Crescent 5
• Pale-banded Crescent 1
• Vesta Crescent 3
• Phaon Crescent 6
• Red Admiral 2
• Common Buckeye 1
• White Peacock 5
• Malachite 1
• Mexican Bluewing 1
• Common Mestra 1
• Guatemalan Cracker 1
• Tropical Leafwing 1
• Goatweed Leafwing 1
• Angled Leafwing 1
• Empress Leilia 2
• Tawny Emperor 1
• Pavon Emperor 2
• Silver Emperor 1
• Monarch 4
• Queen 25
• Soldier 1
• White-striped Longtail 3
• Dorantes Longtail 1
• Brown Longtail 2
• Starred Skipper 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 5
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 5
• Laviana White-Skipper 5
• Clouded Skipper 6
• Southern Skipperling 1
• Fiery Skipper 2
• Whirlabout 2
• Southern Broken-Dash 1
• Common Mellana 3
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 1
• Eufala Skipper 6
• Purple-washed Skipper 1
• Mexican Crescent 1

Finishing up 2025 at the NBC, 12/27-28/25

 A cold front was scheduled to hit the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas on the 29th so I took advantage of the 85F warm weather at the National Butterfly Center.  As had been the case lately, the park had plenty of good butterflies though nothing earth shattering.  The Northern Faceted-Skipper (Malicious Skipper) in the ditch has been a lifer butterfly for most.  I got my best shots of it.

Butterflies in the Family Nymphalidae have only four legs.  But they are insects so where are the other two legs?  The front pair of legs are reduced in size.  In the case of this Pavon Emperor they are day glow green and flank the green proboscis.

I've seen more Red-lined Scrub-Hairstreaks this fall than I had in total the past twenty years.

Lots of Western Pygmy Blues lately.

Early on the 28th Ryan Rodriguez found a Clench's Greenstreak.  Later in the day I thought I ad had found a second.  But this scruffy bug turned out to be a Telea Hairstreak.  The PM band is hard to see.

Here's a nice Marius Hairstreak.  It has gray eyes as do other members of the Genus Rekoa.

One of the better Band-celled sister I've ever seen.

The 28th finished with this spectacular Ruby-spotted Swallowtail putting on a show.

Unfortunately for me I missed two fantastic butterflies.  Kristy Baker has a fresh Guatemalan Leafwing in her yard.  There are only a handful of records in the USA.  The one I saw was pretty scruffy.  At least eight people made the 40 mile drive to her yard and all missed it.  The second fatastic butterfly was a Rusty-tipped Page found by Jim Snyder at Resaca de la Palma.  He only got one shot of this large congener of the Malachite.  Having butterflied a lot in the tropics he had seen many and had no idea it was so rare up here and reported it a little late.

It's 56F as I write this on the 30th.  But we warm to the 80s again in a couple of days so there no reason we can't get some more of these rare butterflies.

Xmas Day Goodies at the NBC, 12/25/25

Merry Christmas.  The National Butterfly Center was officially closed today but Stephanie left the gate open for us hard core papillonistas (That's my new moniker for us butterfly watchers.)  Christmas time averages to about our coldest time of the year in the RGV but sunny and 85F was on tap for today.  Butterflies responded.  My best find was this Northern Faceted Skipper in the ditch on the exact same plumbago where I found one on Nov 29, 26 days ago.  My guess is it's the same bug.

Here's the one from 11/29/25.  It's less worn but that's about the only evidence it's the same indiviual.

Then John Rosford found this scruffy male Chestnut Crescent.  It's been a while since I've seen one.

A huge White Angled Sulphur toyed with us.  I evenutally caught an open winged shot.

Otherwise it was just the same bunch of great butterflies we've been seeing lately.  Like Silver and Pavon emperors.

And Band-celled Sister and Malachites.

Terry and I saw this mid-sized yellow flying floppily.  I yelled "We have to chase that one! " I was hoping for Dina or Salome Yellow.  We chased it a long way and eventually it took a brief rest.  Boisduval's Yellow is pretty uncommon at the NBC.

Mexican Bluewings are hard to come by this winter.

This brightly colored crescent got me thinking about more exotic Anthanassa but she was cavorting with a male Pale-banded.  So I guess that's what she is.

Well, I guess I should get out and find some more bugs.

National Butterfly Center, 12/7/25

The butterfly show continues at the National Butterfly Center south of Mission, Texas.  Cold fronts have been relatively mild with little rain and warm southerly winds send us more Mexican species.  The November visiting butterfly watchers have been replaced by a smaller but equally dedicated crew from across the country.  Nothing major on a warm Sunday.  This Guatemalan Cracker was new for the afternoon.

Another Silver Emperor was found during the morning.  This one was in better shape than the one I saw last week.

Two male Pavon Emperors were seen.

Giant and Florida Whites made a brief stop on the duranta.

Brazilian Skipper has a long proboscis which comes in handy when nectaring on tubular tropical flowers.  That thing is coiled up like a garden hose.

A female Orange-barred Sulphur stopped by for a brief sip.

The warm weather was flushed out by a cool front but is scheduled to return later in the week.  We are all waiting for the next mega rare butterfly.