National Butterfly Center, 11/24/25

I was not going to go to the National Butterfly Center.  I wanted a rest day and had stuff to do.  So while the butterfliers were running around seeing stuff, I was accomplishing things.  I even got in a pretty good workout.  I was going to thaw out some chicken for a stir fry, but the damn butterfly watchers kept reporting stuff.  First the usual Malachites and Red Rims.  Then a Ruddy Hairstreak.  Then a White Scrub-Hairstreak.  Blue-eyed Sailor was the straw that broke the camel's back.  I've seen a few of those but if Blue-eyed Sailors are showing up, what else could be in the offing?  So I raced over to the National Butterfly Center and found the crowd focused on the Blue-eyed Sailor.  That was easy.

The first Julia I've seen in months took our attention from the sailor.

The Ruddy Hairstreak failed to show any orange on the topside that would designate it as a male Ruddy.  So it has to fall ito the Ruddy/Muted category.  Glassberg says it is not known how to ID Muted Hairstreak in the field.  This is most likely a female Ruddy Hairstreak.

Then we heard a distant call of "Pale-spotted Leafwing."  We started running, some of us faster than others.  I like the exotic shape of the fore wing.  It didn't stay long.

Red Rims are being seen daily.

Silver-banded Hairstreaks have become common.

And so many Clytie Ministreaks.

Then Terry found another White-scrub Hairstreak.

I later heard that the Indiana Gang had seen 100 butterfly species on the day.  Yikes.  This is turning into one of the best fall butterfly seasons ever in the RGV.  Good stuff is coming.

Glassy-winged Skipper at Bentsen, 6/1/15

Well today I had the choice to chase after Robin Zurovec's Glassy-winged Skipper at the Old Hidalgo Pumphouse or Graham Toal's Glassy-winged Skipper at Bentsen.  Either way it is a very rare butterfly and I opted for Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park as he found his yesterday afternoon.  Turned out I made the right choice as the fantastic butterfly was easily found on the white lantana south of the rest rooms. I think "Sparkling" Skipper would also be a good common name.  Wow, what a bug!

Special thanks to Dottie Lamolinara, Bill Supulski and John Rosford for the money, time and sweat they invested in replanting much of the badly aged butterfly garden at the park.  I hope the Bentsen staff takes good care of it.  The butterflies sure like it!

Next good bug was a Ruddy Hairstreak that I wasn't sure about till I got home and checked the photos. The orange color of the upper wing surface is visible through the worn wings making it a male Ruddy.  

A Brown-banded Skipper was hanging out around some Barbados cherry, the host plant for its caterpillar.

Just another Banded Peacock.  After not seeing any last year, they are all over the place this spring.

Yesterday at Santa Ana NWR I saw 35 Red-bordered Metalmarks on the blooming soapberry trees.  Only a couple were seen at Bentsen today.

Other good bugs seen but not photographed included Malachite, Zilpa Longtail and a Two-barred Flasher. Woops, I guess I left a couple of them off the list.

• Pipevine Swallowtail 1
• Giant Swallowtail 1
• Great Southern White 2
• Lyside Sulphur 6
• Little Yellow 2
• Gray Hairstreak 8
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 8
• Lantana Scrub-Hairstreak 1
• Ruddy Hairstreak 1
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 6
• Reakirt's Blue 2
• Red-bordered Metalmark 2
• American Snout 8
• Gulf Fritillary 2
• Zebra Heliconian 1
• Bordered Patch 10
• Texan Crescent 5
• Pale-banded Crescent 1
• Vesta Crescent 10
• Phaon Crescent 10
• Pearl Crescent 3
• Red Admiral 1
• White Peacock 1
• Banded Peacock 2
• Common Mestra 1
• Tawny Emperor 10
• Queen 2
• Zilpa Longtail 1
• Glassy-winged Skipper 1
• Sickle-winged Skipper 5
• Brown-banded Skipper 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 6
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 3
• Laviana White-Skipper 6
• Common Sootywing 2
• Fawn-spotted Skipper 2
• Clouded Skipper 10
• Southern Skipperling 1
• Common Mellana 2
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 4
• Eufala Skipper 5

Common Bluevent, Ruddy Hairstreak, 11/9/14

As I mentioned in my last post, a Common Bluevent Anastrus sempiternus was photgraphed yesterday and misidentified as a Brown-banded Skipper.  But sharp eyed Mark Salvato thought something was wrong and refound the bug and properly identified it.  It was gone by the time I got there yesterday.  But as I was sitting at the computer  this morning, waiting for things to warm up after a cool night, I got the call from Holly that the Common Bluevent had reappeared.  And this time I got there in time to see the bug.  Wow!  It has a blue vent!

Afterwards I ran over to the National Butterfly Center to see what might be flying and I got my second life butterfly of the day, a Ruddy Hairstreak Electrostrymon hugon.  This is one I had been wanting for a long time and luckily I got a male.  The orange upper surface of the wing is visible though some of the tears and this separates it form some other similar species.

Other good stuff included the first Mexican Fritillary I've in months,a Two-barred Flasher and a Malachite..

Here's today's list from the NBC.

• Pipevine Swallowtail 1
• Checkered White 1
• Southern Dogface 5
• Cloudless Sulphur 3
• Large Orange Sulphur 1
• Lyside Sulphur 8
• Tailed Orange 2
• Little Yellow lots
• Silver-banded Hairstreak 1
• Gray Hairstreak 5
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 15
• Ruddy Hairstreak 1
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 4
• Western Pygmy-Blue lots
• Ceraunus Blue lots
• Fatal Metalmark 1
• Red-bordered Pixie 15
• American Snout lots
• Gulf Fritillary 12
• Zebra Heliconian 6
• Mexican Fritillary 1
• Bordered Patch 5
• Phaon Crescent lots
• Pearl Crescent 5
• Question Mark 1
• Painted Lady 1
• Red Admiral 5
• Common Buckeye 1
• White Peacock 10
• Malachite 1
• Common Mestra 1
• Empress Leilia 2
• Tawny Emperor lots
• Monarch 1
• Queen lots
• Soldier 3
• Long-tailed Skipper 1
• Brown Longtail 6
• Two-barred Flasher 1
• Sickle-winged Skipper 3
• White-patched Skipper 1
• White Checkered-Skipper lots
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 2
• Laviana White-Skipper 10
• Julia's Skipper 5
• Fawn-spotted Skipper lots
• Clouded Skipper lots
• Southern Skipperling 5
• Fiery Skipper lots
• Whirlabout 3
• Sachem 8