Butterfly #150 at Progreso Lakes, 12/8/23

Well, I see that I haven't posted anything since June.  Well maybe that's because we had 90 days of at least 100F and no rain over the ensuing four months.  The harsh summer and fall decimated butterfly populations here in the Rio Grande Valley.  But in last couple of monts we've had a few showers and things are looking better.  The Texas Butterfly Festival had OK numbers of butterflies but really low diversity.  Crucita was late blooming but showers and cooler weather have kept blooms on much later than usual.  Our garden at Progreso Lakes looks pretty good now.

So yesterday I was making the rounds, hoping for some thing different, when I spied this striped long-tailed masterpiece.  Finally our first Many-banded Daggerwing and butterfly species #150 for our yard!  It was the species I thought was most overdue for our yard considering we've already had several Ruddy Daggerwings.

Red-bordered Pixies have made a strong someback.  They are a favorite in our yard for visiting butterfly watchers.

I put our word about the Many-banded Daggerwing and visiting butterfly watchers rushed over but it was present for only a minute and never refound.  But in turn they manged to turn up other good stuff like this Boisduval's Yellow.  I haven'st seen one in our yard since spring.

They also found this Purple-washed Skipper which is maybe the first I've seen this year.

Our bair station has had Red Admirals, Tawny Emperors and finally an Empress Leilia.

There is no shortage of Queens.

Here's a list of 47 species of butterflies seen in our yard over the past two days .

• Giant White 1
• Southern Dogface 1
• Cloudless Sulphur 8
• Large Orange Sulphur 4
• Lyside Sulphur 4
• Boisduval's Yellow 1
• Little Yellow 5
• Mimosa Yellow 1
• Sleepy Orange 2
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 1
• Clytie Ministreak 1
• Fatal Metalmark 1
• Rounded Metalmark 1
• Red-bordered Metalmark 1
• Red-bordered Pixie 4
• American Snout 50
• Gulf Fritillary 2
• Bordered Patch 2
• Vesta Crescent 1
• Phaon Crescent 2
• Pearl Crescent 2
• Painted Lady 1
• Red Admiral 5
• Common Mestra 1
• Many-banded Daggerwing 1
• Empress Leilia 1
• Tawny Emperor 3
• Monarch 1
• Queen 25
• Soldier 6
• Guava Skipper 1
• Brown Longtail 5
• Mournful Duskywing 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 6
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 3
• Laviana White-Skipper 3
• Common Sootywing 1
• Fawn-spotted Skipper 1
• Clouded Skipper 6
• Southern Skipperling 1
• Fiery Skipper 5
• Whirlabout 4
• Sachem 2
• Common Mellana 3
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 1
• Eufala Skipper 8
• Purple-washed Skipper 1

Ruddy Daggerwing at Progreso Lakes, 7/28/20

As I spent the morning cleaning up after Hurrican Hanna, I kept noticing a large orange butterfly flapping and gliding overhead.  Finally I saw it dart into our big rubber tree where I was able to get a few shots.  It was only the second Ruddy Daggerwing we've ever had in the yard.  My brush hollies are sure to bloom after the eight inches of rain we received so I'm expecting them to attract more daggerwings.

A worn but still colorful Guava Skipper graced the other side of the yard.

Yesterday I released my fourth Polydamas Swallowtail of the summer.  Two were ovipositing on the big Dutchman's Pipe.

And speaking of ovipositing, this Sickle-winged Skipper left a few eggs on one of the colimas.

Still plenty of Queens and Soldiers around.

The rain from Hurricane Hanna is only going to bring us more butterflies this summer.  I have some ideas about what may be next but if I say it, it won't come true.

Progreso Lakes yard, 6/24/20

Most of the rain seems to be going around our yard at Progreso Lakes but were still getting butterflies.  About every day I check the Giant Dutchman's Pipe for Polydamas Swallowtail caterpillars and find none.  Today I noticed an adult female ovipositing and counted 15 cats.  Some were big.  Don't know how I missed them.

New for the yard this year was this tiny Lantana Scrub-Hairstreak.  Bet we start seeing a lot more now.

Our Gulf Fritillaries are also laying egss.  I wonder if this big fresh one hatched in our yard.

Am I crazy or is that a lot of dots?  The correct Seinfeld response is "That's a lot of dots."  Double-dotted Skippers can have variable numbers of spots.  Here's a freak and a more normal one.

Our other yard specialty, Boisduval's Yellow, fluttered about the brush patch today.

Ten Soldiers was a one day high for the yard.

And there were a dozen Queens.

And even a Monarch.  It's been a while.

We have two more shots at some rain and then it gets dry next week.

Yard Butterfly #112 at Progreso Lakes, 1/8/19

I was doing a little birding and yard work today in our Progreso Lakes yard.  There was a little action on our flame vine while I was working in our cactus garden but nothing major.  I made a few sweeps of our brushy native patch and saw a Pixie and some Queens and a little pale blue that I passed off as a Cassius Blue.  After lunch I checked our garden again and saw the little blue and decided to photograph it.  What a surprise when I saw it was a Cyna Blue!  It was bigger than normal and I wonder if it's a female.  Hope it finds my little snake herb or some of our tube tongue.

Back at the flame vine there was a sweet Guava Skipper.  I see these a couple of times per week.

Much less common was this Dorantes Longtail.

It took a while before I could get a shot of this White-striped Longtail.  Finally it rested on the palm stump.

Still a few Red-bordered Pixies around.

We would make a big deal about Queens if they weren't so common.

Progreso Lakes, 9/23/18

With the long hot dry summer there has been few butterflies around.  But we've had some rain lately and another shower last night seem to really bring out the butterflies in our Progreso Lakes yard.  Glad to have Double-dotted Skippers back after an absence of a few months.

Guava Skippers have been regular lately though I don't have any guavas.

This White-striped Longtail looked really fresh.

But this Long-tailed Skipper barely had enough markings left to be identifiable.

A fresh Clytie Ministreak is always pretty.

Been a while since I've seen the common Fiery Skipper.

Queens are starting pick up in numbers.

Nothing rare but the 31 species seen is the most we've had since last winter.  I will try to post a little more regularly now that we're getting bugs.

• Pipevine Swallowtail 1
• Giant Swallowtail 1
• Cloudless Sulphur 2
• Large Orange Sulphur 3
• Little Yellow 3
• Gray Hairstreak 1
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 1
• Clytie Ministreak 1
• Rounded Metalmark 1
• American Snout 12
• Phaon Crescent 3
• White Peacock 2
• Tawny Emperor 1
• Carolina Satyr 2
• Queen 3
• Guava Skipper 2
• White-striped Longtail 2
• Long-tailed Skipper 1
• Brown Longtail 1
• Mimosa Skipper 1
• Sickle-winged Skipper 1
• Funereal Duskywing 2
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 6
• Laviana White-Skipper 1
• Clouded Skipper 8
• Double-dotted Skipper 1
• Fiery Skipper 1
• Whirlabout 2
• Southern Broken-Dash 2
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 2
• Eufala Skipper 1

National Butterfly Center, 8/3/14

During the past two weeks triple digit temperatures have really knocked down the butterflies at the National Butterfly Center and across the RGV.  Best bug today goes to this sharp White Angled Sulphur.

There wasn't too much worth mentioning except there were tons of Queens on the Gregg's mistflower and on the butterfly milkweed..

So here's today's list.

 Pipevine Swallowtail 1

• Giant Swallowtail 1
• Southern Dogface 1
• White Angled-Sulphur 1
• Large Orange Sulphur 1
• Lyside Sulphur 10
• Little Yellow 2
• Gray Hairstreak 1
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 2
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 1
• Ceraunus Blue 1
• Zebra Heliconian 2
• Texan Crescent 1
• Vesta Crescent 1
• Phaon Crescent 8
• White Peacock 2
• Tawny Emperor 12
• Queen 250
• Soldier 4
• Brown Longtail 8
• White Checkered-Skipper 5
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 5
• Laviana White-Skipper 6
• Clouded Skipper 3
• Fiery Skipper 2
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 1

I did pick up the 84th butterfly for our yard a few days ago; this cute little Common Mellana.