Blomfild's Beauty at NBC, 7/12/26

I ran over to the National Butterfly Center this morning and took a look at the Big Board in the visitor's center.  They were up to a very respecable 78 species of butterflies for July.  Not bad.  I noticed Desert Checkered Skipper was missing for the month so I thought I would make a try for it.  I can usually find one up front if I dig through enough checkered-skippers.  It didn't take long before I found one.  I called Woody over and he was happy to see it.

Well, what to look for next?  Woody took care of that.  "Blomfild's Beauty" was the cry from the woods.  I ran in the direction of Woody's voice and found him by a bait log holding a big stonking perfect Blomfild's Beauty.  What a knockout!.  Picasso would have been proud of that wild abstract underwing.

That will be hard to beat.  I think it's the first of 2026.  I returned to the front garden and found a nice Brown-banded Skipper.  A pretty good butterfly but it pales in comparison to Woody's find.

Several fresh Theona Checkerspots were about.

Then I saw a big sulphur and the color was wrong for Cloudless or Large Orange.  I was right.  It was a female Statira Sulphur.  I got our first of the year a few days ago.

And a little later I got a male.

Woody had reported a Gray Cracker on the lower Hackberry Trail so I drove to the south garden and it didn't take long to find it.  In fact I foud three Gray Crackers.

Lots of Mexican Bluewings.

It got hot fast and I called it quits.  Woody found a White Scrub-Hairstreak and a Turk's-Cap White-Skipper to push the Big Board to 82.  Hoping for rain.

Giant Swallowtail 10

• Checkered White 3
• Great Southern White 25
• Cloudless Sulphur 3
• Large Orange Sulphur 30
• Statira Sulphur 2
• Lyside Sulphur 20
• Little Yellow 8
• Dainty Sulphur 10
• Gray Hairstreak 1
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 1
• Clytie Ministreak 1
• Cassius Blue 6
• Ceraunus Blue 3
• Curve-winged Metalmark 1
• American Snout 25
• Gulf Fritillary 2
• Julia Heliconian 1
• Mexican Fritillary 2
• Theona Checkerspot 3
• Bordered Patch 12
• Elada Checkerspot 1
• Texan Crescent 3
• Pale-banded Crescent 2
• Phaon Crescent 20
• White Peacock 15
• Mexican Bluewing 12
• Gray Cracker 3
• Blomfild's Beauty 1
• Tropical Leafwing 10
• Empress Leilia 2
• Tawny Emperor 20
• Queen 6
• Soldier 3
• Brown Longtail 6
• Brown-banded Skipper 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 5
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 6
• Desert Checkered-Skipper 1
• Clouded Skipper 12
• Southern Skipperling 6
• Fiery Skipper 1
• Whirlabout 3
• Southern Broken-Dash 3
• Eufala Skipper 1
• Mexican Crescent 3

Fireworks Continue at NBC, 7/5/26

It's hot and dry in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of south Texas, but the good butterflies keep coming.  Gotta get em before they fry!  Still getting hairstreaks.  Along with the usual for this summer Clench's, Ruddy and Marius, I found this guy.  It kind of looks like an Orange-crescent Groundstreak but I'm not getting a lot of support for that ID.  Most think it's a Ruddy.

My first Statira Sulphur for the year was in front in the white Duranta.

Nearby was a Brown-banded Skipper.  Woody found a second in the nursery.

Giant Whites were in the Mexican Orchid.

There were at least two Gray Crackers on the bait logs.

It took me several tries to finally see the Dingy Purplewing.

It was getting really hot and I was ready to head home when Woody reported two Ruddy Dagerwings by the nursery.

Today's list of 53 species

• Giant Swallowtail 10
• Checkered White 2
• Great Southern White 20
• Giant White 2
• Cloudless Sulphur 2
• Large Orange Sulphur 20
• Statira Sulphur 1
• Lyside Sulphur 40
• Little Yellow 3
• Dainty Sulphur 2
• Marius Hairstreak 3
• Clench's Greenstreak 8
• Gray Hairstreak 2
• Red-crescent Scrub-Hairstreak 1
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 5
• Ruddy Hairstreak 1
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 6
• Clytie Ministreak 6
• Cassius Blue 3
• Ceraunus Blue 3
• Red-bordered Metalmark 1
• Curve-winged Metalmark 2
• American Snout 500
• Gulf Fritillary 2
• Mexican Fritillary 2
• Theona Checkerspot 1
• Bordered Patch 3
• Elada Checkerspot 1
• Texan Crescent 2
• Pale-banded Crescent 3
• Phaon Crescent 5
• Question Mark 1
• White Peacock 10
• Mexican Bluewing 12
• Dingy Purplewing 1
• Gray Cracker 2
• Ruddy Daggerwing 2
• Tropical Leafwing 8
• Empress Leilia 1
• Tawny Emperor 25
• Queen 3
• Soldier 2
• Brown Longtail 5
• Brown-banded Skipper 2
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 10
• Laviana White-Skipper 5
• Clouded Skipper 10
• Southern Skipperling 1
• Whirlabout 3
• Southern Broken-Dash 3
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 5
• Eufala Skipper 2
• Mexican Crescent 10

• 
  

National Butterfly Center 12/25-26/2024

Sunny warm (hot!) weather the past two afternoon have prompted entertaining visits to the National Butterfly Center.  It's really dry but they still have stuff blooming and butterflies are still putting on a show.  Chris Balboni found this tattered but good looking Banded Peacock.

Statira Sulphurs from Mexico have been blowing through.  Getting proper exposure on these is always a battle.

It's been a few years since I've seen an Evan's Skipper.

Three Malachites were reported.

Cooperative Band-celled Sister.

Still a couple of Marius Hairstreaks around.

Mark Salvato was chasing what he thought would be a Mexican Yellow but when it flew up into an Ebony I suggested that I had never seen a Mexican Yellow go high.  Then it came down to a Turk's-Cap and turned into a Boisduval's Yellow.  These are making a come back from the freeze of 2021.  We were really hoping for a Salome!

Nothing but warm weather in the forecast.  A Common Banner was reported at Oleander Acres so keep your eyes open!

Mexican Silverspot at Progreso Lakes, 11/27/19

Today was forecast to be warm and windy so I thought it would be a good opportunity to get some work done in our yard at Progreso Lakes.  After a couple of hours visiting butterfly watchers showed up and I used that as an excuse to stop working and have some fun.  We quickly discovered the stiff breeze was blowing in some good stuff.  First was this uncooperative Florida White.

A few minutes later a Mexican Yellow fluttered by.  We later found a second but I failed to get a great shot.

While I was trying to get them on the Florida White I caught a glimpse of a pale green sulphur with purple wing tips....Statira Sulphur!

At this point we had to get word out to other visiting lepidophiles who soon arrived only to find the Mexican Yellow but nothing else.  But they went to work and soon turned up this magnificent Mexican Silverspot, yard butterfly #115.  It's a been a few years since I have seen one.

Everyone loved the Guava Skipper as usual.

I don't get many Questionmarks.  Here's an unusual shot.

Then Linda Cooper's sharp eyes found us a Silver-banded Hairstreak.

Though I had not seen a Double-dotted Skipper in weeks, the group wanted one and so they found a couple.

I like Dorantes Longtails.  This one stayed for only a few seconds.

Not a butterfly but a cool day flying moth, this Saucy Beauty was a first for our yard.

So we found 48 species in the yard including some good quality bugs.  Meanwhile Blomfild's Beauties have been found at the National Butterfly Center and at nearby Estero Llano Grande State Park and Estero also had a Chestnut Crescent so things are looking up.

Pipevine Swallowtail 1

• Florida White 1
• Cloudless Sulphur 5
• Large Orange Sulphur 3
• Statira Sulphur 1
• Mexican Yellow 2
• Little Yellow 1
• Mimosa Yellow 2
• Dainty Sulphur 2
• Silver-banded Hairstreak 1
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 2
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 5
• Ceraunus Blue 2
• Reakirt's Blue 3
• Red-bordered Metalmark 1
• American Snout 1
• Gulf Fritillary 2
• Mexican Silverspot 1
• Texan Crescent 1
• Vesta Crescent 3
• Phaon Crescent 3
• Question Mark 1
• Painted Lady 1
• Red Admiral 1
• White Peacock 2
• Tawny Emperor 1
• Carolina Satyr 2
• Monarch 4
• Queen 10
• Soldier 2
• Guava Skipper 2
• Dorantes Longtail 1
• Brown Longtail 4
• Sickle-winged Skipper 3
• White Checkered-Skipper 4
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 2
• Laviana White-Skipper 3
• Julia's Skipper 1
• Fawn-spotted Skipper 1
• Clouded Skipper 2
• Double-dotted Skipper 2
• Southern Skipperling 3
• Fiery Skipper 8
• Whirlabout 4
• Southern Broken-Dash 3
• Sachem 2
• Eufala Skipper 2
• Ocola Skipper 2

Progreso Lakes yard, 11/21/17

I finally got around to some long neglected weeding in the yard today.  When I finished I thought I would check out the butterflies.  Well I kept seeing stuff and more stuff.  By the time I was finished I had seen fifty species for the day, a new one day high for our yard.  Best was this Mexican Yellow.

I saw a nice male Orange-barred Sulphur but all I could photograph was this beat up female.

Statira Sulphurs are no longer a surprise in our yard this year.

And the same can be said for Giant Whites.

My photos never do justice to Red-bordered Pixies.

Here's his cousin, the Red-bordered Metalmark.

50 species will be tough to beat unless I add some more plants.

• Giant Swallowtail 1
• Giant White 1
• Cloudless Sulphur 12
• Orange-barred Sulphur 3
• Large Orange Sulphur 6
• Statira Sulphur 1
• Mexican Yellow 1
• Little Yellow 4
• Sleepy Orange 1
• Dainty Sulphur 1
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 3
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 3
• Cassius Blue 4
• Ceraunus Blue 2
• Fatal Metalmark 1
• Red-bordered Metalmark 1
• Red-bordered Pixie 2
• American Snout 4
• Gulf Fritillary 2
• Bordered Patch 1
• Texan Crescent 1
• Vesta Crescent 12
• Phaon Crescent 6
• Pearl Crescent 4
• Red Admiral 1
• White Peacock 40
• Common Mestra 2
• Tawny Emperor 2
• Carolina Satyr 6
• Monarch 1
• Queen 25
• Soldier 3
• Guava Skipper 1
• White-striped Longtail 1
• Brown Longtail 6
• Sickle-winged Skipper 10
• White Checkered-Skipper 15
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 8
• Laviana White-Skipper 8
• Julia's Skipper 3
• Fawn-spotted Skipper 10
• Clouded Skipper 30
• Southern Skipperling 2
• Fiery Skipper 2
• Whirlabout 3
• Southern Broken-Dash 2
• Sachem 1
• Common Mellana 1
• Eufala Skipper 4
• Ocola Skipper 1