Turquoise Longtail at NBC, 11/29/25

Friday morning sharp eyed Ryan Rodriguez got a brief look at a rare Turquoise Longtail in the Mexican orchid by the nursery.  Thoughout the day hopeful butterfly watchers kept a vigil and eventually the Urbanus made another appearance.  Several people got diagnostic photos but I arrived too late.  I was taking a day off ahead of the warm windy Saturday that was forecast ahead of a incoming cold front.  It cost me a lifer.

So my plan was to spend Saturday looking for good stuff blown in on the southerly wind.  But before I could leave, the Discord sounded.  The Turquoise Longtail was back!  I raced over and got lucky this time.

 

This proved to be a fantastic day of very uncommon butterflies.  In the immediate area of the orchid tree Curve-winged Metalmark, Caballo (formerly Poterillo) Skipper and Giant and Great Southern Whites were reported.  Here's the metalmark.

Red-bordered pixies continue in large numbers.

Checking the nearby Coma tree, I spied a Marine Blue which put the NBC November list at an all time high of 139.

Then I decided to break from the crowd and run the bait logs.  Not much exciting.  So I decided to walk the ditch and found what I had hoped for... Malicious Skipper!  Well, I guess it's not called that anymore.  Synapte malitiosa as been split with the Caribbean nominate race retaining the old common moniker.  Ours is the Northern Faceted Skipper, Synapte pecta.  It's only the third I've ever seen, all self found.  I put it out on the alert but no one else was able to refind it.

Farther north on the bait logs I foud a couple of female Pavon Emperor's.

And then in the sunken garden Ken Wilson found me a male.

Good to see a couple of Fawn-spotted Skippers.  They were wiped out in the 2021 freeze.

Back to the south a Mazan's Scallopwing was reported in the little Gregg's Mistflower patch where the Red-spotted Patch was found a few days earlier.

Perusing the mistflowers I dug out an uncommon Erichson's White-skipper.

Back at the orchid tree, another Ruby-spotted Swallowtail put on a show.

Someone put a rare Spot-celled Sister on the Discord alert.  Was it misidentified?  All I found was a less rare female Silver Empror.

An uncommon Glazed Pellicia was on the blue Duranta.

A little later there was another report of a Spot-celled Sister.  I ran over expecting to see the female Silver Emperor but no, it was a beautiful Spot-celled Sister.  These used to be mega rare but we've had several this fall.

Ho hum.  Just another fantastic Malachite!

I ended the amazing day with a cavorting pair of Red Rims.  I saw aleast five on the day.

I guess the Northern Faceted Skipper pushed the park November list to 140.  I finished the day with 77 species.  

• Pipevine Swallowtail 2
• Giant Swallowtail 3
• Ruby-spotted Swallowtail 1
• Checkered White 2
• Great Southern White 1
• Giant White 6
• Orange Sulphur 1
• Cloudless Sulphur 1
• Large Orange Sulphur 20
• Lyside Sulphur 10
• Tailed Orange  1
• Little Yellow 6
• Mimosa Yellow 2
• Marius Hairstreak 1
• Silver-banded Hairstreak 2
• Gray Hairstreak 3
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 15
• Lantana Scrub-Hairstreak 15
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 2
• Clytie Ministreak 1
• Western Pygmy-Blue 1
• Cassius Blue 6
• Marine Blue 1
• Ceraunus Blue 25
• Reakirt's Blue 1
• Fatal Metalmark 5
• Red-bordered Metalmark 1
• Red-bordered Pixie 20
• Curve-winged Metalmark 3
• American Snout 25
• Gulf Fritillary 5
• Zebra Heliconian 2
• Mexican Fritillary 15
• Theona Checkerspot 1
• Bordered Patch 6
• Texan Crescent 1
• Pale-banded Crescent 5
• Vesta Crescent 3
• Phaon Crescent 25
• Red Admiral 8
• Common Buckeye 5
• White Peacock 3
• Malachite 1
• Spot-celled Sister 1
• Common Mestra 8
• Red Rim 5
• Tropical Leafwing 3
• Empress Leilia 8
• Tawny Emperor 25
• Pavon Emperor 3
• Silver Emperor 1
• Monarch 1
• Queen 15
• Soldier 1
• White-striped Longtail 4
• Dorantes Longtail 1
• Brown Longtail 2
• Turquoise Longtail   1
• Coyote Cloudywing 1
• Glazed Pellicia 1
• Mazans Scallopwing 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 20
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 8
• Erichson's White-Skipper 1
• Laviana White-Skipper 25
• Malicious Skipper 1
• Fawn-spotted Skipper 2
• Clouded Skipper 20
• Southern Skipperling 3
• Fiery Skipper 3
• Whirlabout 3
• Southern Broken-Dash 6
• Sachem 2
• Common Mellana 10
• Eufala Skipper 15
• Olive-clouded Skipper 1
• Purple-washed Skipper 1

Good day at the NBC, 12/28/24

Took a day off to rest and get caught up on photos and work on the blog and stuff.  Yesterday was quite a day at the National Butterfly Center south of Mission, Texas.  I didn't find a lot of great stuff on my own but I manged to survive on the spoils of Mak and Holly Salvato's expertise and efforts.  Their best find was this Spot-celled Sister of which there are not many recordgs for the RGV.  I think it's my fourth.

There were also two of the similar but more common Band-celled sister.

Earlier in the day Mark found a Yellow Angled-Sulphur.  It was distant but that allowed my to fire away multiple exposures to get flight shots.

A short while later Mark called "White Angled-Sulphur!"  I thought it was a female and asked him how he made the ID.  But it was a male.

It took me a while but I eventually found Mark's Glazed Pellicia.

The Gray Cracker continued on its usual trunk.  It did fly into the bait log and allowed a closer shot.

Mark and Holly also found this cool Pale-spotted Leafwing.  Been quite a few this fall.  I crawled down under it and got some interesting shots before it returned to the bait.  I like that hooked fore wing.

More interesting flight shots included Florida White, Tailed Orange and a White-striped Longtail.

Here's the obligatory Mexican Bluewing and REd-bordered Pixie.

That's enough.  Here's the list of 64 species.

• Pipevine Swallowtail 2
• Giant Swallowtail 2
• Florida White 4
• Great Southern White 3
• Southern Dogface 3
• White Angled-Sulphur 1
• Yellow Angled-Sulphur 1
• Cloudless Sulphur 4
• Large Orange Sulphur 15
• Statira Sulphur 1
• Lyside Sulphur 10
• Mexican Yellow 1
• Tailed Orange 5
• Little Yellow 5
• Mimosa Yellow 1
• Sleepy Orange 1
• Marius Hairstreak 4
• Silver-banded Hairstreak 1
• Gray Hairstreak 2
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 12
• Lantana Scrub-Hairstreak 1
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 4
• Clytie Ministreak 1
• Cassius Blue 2
• Ceraunus Blue 20
• Reakirt's Blue 2
• Red-bordered Pixie 5
• American Snout 12
• Gulf Fritillary 1
• Julia Heliconian 1
• Zebra Heliconian 8
• Mexican Fritillary 1
• Texan Crescent 1
• Vesta Crescent 1
• Phaon Crescent 5
• Question Mark 1
• Red Admiral 8
• White Peacock 2
• Band-celled Sister 2
• Spot-celled Sister 1
• Mexican Bluewing 4
• Common Mestra 8
• Gray Cracker 1
• Pale-spotted Leafwing 1
• Tawny Emperor 1
• Monarch 6
• Queen 25
• Soldier 2
• White-striped Longtail 3
• Long-tailed Skipper 2
• Dorantes Longtail 3
• Brown Longtail 2
• Glazed Pellicia 1
• Funereal Duskywing 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 3
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 5
• Laviana White-Skipper 10
• Clouded Skipper 6
• Southern Skipperling 1
• Fiery Skipper 5
• Whirlabout 2
• Sachem 8
• Common Mellana 1
• Eufala Skipper 4

Pale-spotted Leafwings, Spot-celled Sister at National Butterfly Center, 11/29/20

Yesterday while I was at home waiting for the termite exterminator, the WhatsApp dinged with the news that a Pacific-slope Flycatcher was visible and calling at Quinta Mazatlan.  Arg!!!!!  Then a bit later I got a text that a Guatemalan Leafwing had just been found at the National Butterfly Center.  Arg!!!!  That's my most wanted butterfly and there's nothing I can do about it.  And to add insult to injury, the exterminator found lots of termites in the attic.  Then a cold front blew in and who knows what that will do to the staked out birds and butterflies.

So this morning it was cool and drippy.  Quinta Mazatlan was closed and butterflies weren't out so I decided to look for birds at Frontera.  I didn't find much but by noon the sky was clearing and temperatures were going up so I made the run over to the National Butterfly Center.  Bait was out at the location of yesterday's magical apparition of the Guatemalan Leafwing.  People checked the spot off and on all afternoon and the blue bug never showed.  But it was still a great day.  Phil Kelly put me onto the Spot-celled sister, only the fourth I've ever seen.

Though not as rare as the sister, this very cooperative Pale-spotted Leafwing was the bug of the day for me.  I had been thinking about them just a few minutes earlier when I found this one on a bait lot.  I could not believe it when it opend up and sunned itself.

I got the word out and everyone at the park came running.  It's been a while since we've had one in the Valley.  But just a few minutes later Phil goes out and finds a second one.  A bit of blue is visible on the nape in the second photo.

A Tropical Leafwing battled the Pale-spotted over a spot on the bait log and then showed off a bit.

It's been a few years since I've seen a Two-barred Flasher.  I'm still waiting for one of these in the yard.

The male Pavon Emperor was on the top of the chomonque and did not show well.

Cool sunny weather is forcast for the week and the chomonque is blooming like crazy so maybe some more good butterflies are in store.

• Pipevine Swallowtail 1
• Giant Swallowtail 1
• Great Southern White 2
• Large Orange Sulphur 10
• Little Yellow 2
• Red-crescent Scrub-Hairstreak 1
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 10
• Lantana Scrub-Hairstreak 2
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 25
• Clytie Ministreak 2
• Cassius Blue 10
• Fatal Metalmark 2
• Red-bordered Pixie 20
• American Snout 5
• Gulf Fritillary 2
• Julia Heliconian 3
• Zebra Heliconian 6
• Variegated Fritillary 1
• Mexican Fritillary 2
• Bordered Patch 2
• Texan Crescent 2
• Phaon Crescent 8
• Question Mark 1
• Red Admiral 1
• White Peacock 5
• Mexican Bluewing 6
• Common Mestra 2
• Tropical Leafwing 5
• Pale-spotted Leafwing 2
• Tawny Emperor 50
• Pavon Emperor 1
• Carolina Satyr 6
• Monarch 1
• Queen 50
• Soldier 5
• White-striped Longtail 1
• Dorantes Longtail 1
• Brown Longtail 6
• Two-barred Flasher 1
• Sickle-winged Skipper 6
• White Checkered-Skipper 6
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 6
• Laviana White-Skipper 6
• Turk's-cap White-Skipper 1
• Fawn-spotted Skipper 50
• Clouded Skipper 25
• Common Mellana 1
• Eufala Skipper 10