I made a run out to Big Bend National Park in west Texas hoping to find some migrant birds and maybe a few butterflies. I made my usual hike up the Pine Canyon Trail which has hosted some very rare birds through the years and well the birds pretty muched sucked. I think the only warbler I saw was an Audubon's. On the other hand the butterflies rocked! Hiking through the bear grass and sotol, Sandi Hairstreaks were easy to find. I saw ten on the way up and five on the return trip.
Also common on the way of were Common Streaky Skippers.
The trail starts on the north side of a ravine passing though bear grass and sotols and then switches to the south side as it enters the oaks, juipers and pinyon pines. As it cossed the botton of the ravine to go back up on the north side I saw a medium sized butterfly with white wing bands. It landed on a Texas Madrone. Some kind of a sister? I fired a few shots. Looking at the camera I saw a funky dark butterfly with white and yellow spots. With red spots on the body and kind of shaped like a Florida White. Hmmm..... White? Mexican Dartwhite!!! Wow! This was a species I had hoped to see someday at Big Bend but I held little hope. Now that's a lifer butterfly!
I watched the Mexican Dartwhite for about 45 minutes. Numerous times it interacted with an Arizona Sister and a Tropical Leafwing.
My primary target was the hard to find Chisos Banded-Skipper. I found a few of the more common Golden Banded-Skippers but none with a skinny band and white fringe. I think this southwestern forn has been elevated to specific status but I forgot the new name.
I aslo found a couple of the striking Golden-headed Scallopwings.
Then a largish gray grass skipper landed right on the trail. It posed nicely for photos and I later found a couple more. They proved to be my lifer Python Skippers.
The trail later crossed back to the south side of the ravine and there were no more butterflies as I climbed up to the large cliff face where I had once found a Chisos Skipperling. Here in the shade it was cooler and the oak trees were just starting to leaf out. No migrant birds either. So I walked back down and after a bit I saw a butterfly zip past me and land in the leaves. Texan Crescent was my first thought. I didn't have one for the day so I took a few photos. Looking at the back of the camera I realized this was no Texan Crescent. But the butterfly looked familiar. After reaching the car I looked though my copy of Glasberg and Black Checkerspot was the one that fit best. Back at the hotel, internet seaches also pointed me to Black Checkerspot. This species is a resident of the western Sierra Madre in Mexico and just barely reaches south eastern Arizona where it is not common. Mike Rickard (who coincidentally found the first USA record of Mexican Dartwhite way back in the 70's) told me he thinks this may be the first Black Checkerspot to be recorded in Texas. I was only able to get three shots, all the same, before it took off not to be refound.
The rest of my short trip proved uneventful. I looked for Big Bend Scrub Hairstreaks in the bromiliad patches. They were just starting to bloom but I couldn't find any hairstreaks.
- Two-tailed Swallowtail 1
- Mexican Dartwhite 1
- Checkered White 12
- Mexican Yellow 8
- Sleepy Orange 6
- Dainty Sulphur 4
- Sandia Hairstreak 12
- Western Pygmy-Blue 1
- Marine Blue 1
- Chisos Metalmark 1
- Black Checkerspot 1
- Arizona Sister 1
- Tropical Leafwing 1
- Golden Banded-Skipper 6
- Golden-headed Scallopwing 2
- Rocky Mountain Duskywing 2
- Mournful Duskywing 1
- Common Streaky-Skipper 10
- Python Skipper 3
