National Butterfly Center, 10/25/16

Spent a warm afternoon at the National Butterfly Center sorting through the hordes of butterflies.  This sharp Gold-spotted Aguna was the prize of the day.

Marius Hairstreak is always a treat.  They've had a few in the area lately.

Glazed Pellicias are around in good numbers just like last fall.

Saw three Tropical Buckeyes today.

And lots of regular Common Buckeyes.

Here are some tailed skippers.  White-striped, Dorantes and Long-tailed.

I liked this well marked Soldier.

Wish this spider would pick on the snouts instead of the Gulf Fritillaries.

So a pretty good day with 56 species.

• Pipevine Swallowtail 10
• Giant Swallowtail 6
• Southern Dogface 12
• Cloudless Sulphur 6
• Large Orange Sulphur 10
• Lyside Sulphur lots
• Tailed Orange 2
• Little Yellow 8
• Marius Hairstreak 1
• Gray Hairstreak 12
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 5
• Cassius Blue 1
• Ceraunus Blue 10
• American Snout lots
• Gulf Fritillary 10
• Zebra Heliconian 1
• Mexican Fritillary 1
• Theona Checkerspot 1
• Bordered Patch 5
• Crimson Patch 8
• Pale-banded Crescent 1
• Vesta Crescent 1
• Phaon Crescent 4
• Painted Lady 1
• Common Buckeye 12
• Tropical Buckeye 3
• White Peacock 12
• Mexican Bluewing 4
• Common Mestra 5
• Tawny Emperor lots
• Monarch 1
• Queen lots
• Soldier 12
• White-striped Longtail 1
• Gold-spotted Aguna 1
• Long-tailed Skipper 1
• Dorantes Longtail 2
• Brown Longtail 8
• Glazed Pellicia 3
• White-patched Skipper 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 8
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 2
• Laviana White-Skipper lots
• Julia's Skipper 1
• Fawn-spotted Skipper 1
• Clouded Skipper 10
• Southern Skipperling 2
• Fiery Skipper lots
• Whirlabout 12
• Southern Broken-Dash 6
• Sachem lots
• Common Mellana 5
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 2
• Eufala Skipper 10
• Ocola Skipper lots
• Purple-washed Skipper 1

Before the storm at NBC and Bentsen, 11/22/13

Yesterday was one of those warm breezy days before an approaching cold front that often produces a flurry of exciting butterflies in the RGV.  With the front expected to arrive in mid-afternoon I decided to hang around the National Butterfly Center to see what goodies would show up.  Minutes after my arrival a call came in alerting us of an Isabella Heliconian at Bentsen.  It's a bit beat up but I'll take it.

A few minutes later I drove the mile back to the NBC and I immediately got a call from Linda Cooper that they had just found a Yojoa Scrub-Hairstreak at Bentsen.   So I raced back to photograph this first of the species for this fall in the RGV.  We had quite a few last fall.

And it was back again to the NBC where with a little searching I managed to get lucky and find this beat up Falcate Skipper, my second this fall.

And a few minutes later I found this Lanata Scrub-Hairstreak, one of seven hairstreaks on the day.

After noon and not finding too much new for the day, I returned to Bentsen where one of their Malachites was putting on a show.  One was also reported at the NBC.

A breif stop at the "wall" north of Bentsen to check out the blooming Duranta turned up three species of Whites, Great Southern, Giant and this Florida.  I only discovered it as I was editing my photos.

With the front only minutes away, I drove back to the NBC and there was Dave Hanson poring over the Betony Mistflower where he had found both Common and Tropical Buckeyes.

I then went to check out the gardens behind the visitor's center when I received a call from Linda that she had just found a Guatemalan Cracker near the picnic table.  I ran inside to tell Louie who was writing down good species for the day on the marker board.  Then I stepped outside to approach my car when an icy, dusty wind caught me and blew off my hat.  The front had arrive and the temperature dropped about 20 degrees in just a few minutes.  I was finished with 71 species for the day.  With temps in the 40's for the next few days I guess it will be time to switch back to birding.

National Butterfly Center, 10/16/13

The last hot day before the cold front combined with blooming crucita added up to so many butterflies it was hard to breathe without inhaling one.  Of the 69 species I saw in the park, nothing was really rare but there was plenty of uncommon things around.  This Texas powdered-Skipper was my first at NBC.

Ginny found a Potrillo Skipper which I think was only my second for the park.

And Mike spotted a Julia Heliconian.

This Malachite dwarfs the Tawnies at the bait log.

Ruddy Daggerwings continue to be more common than usual.

Dark Tropical Buckeye is always a favorite.

It's been a while since I had seen a Long-tailed Skipper.  I saw three today.

See how many species of butterflies you can spot.

Boca Chica area, 7/23/13

Yesterday Mike Rickard and I took my truck over to the mangroves of Boca Chica near the mouth of the Rio Grande in search of Mangrove Buckeyes.  We found a large patch along the river and sure enough Mike dug out a pink Mangrove Buckeye but wasn't able to get a photo and I didn't see one at all.  So in consolation here's a photo from the same spot from 8/30/11 which may or may not be a Mangrove.

We did see Obscure Skippers but they were unusually uncooperative.

Due to excessive mud I wasn't able to get further down the river so we checked out the mangroves just before the dunes on TX 4.  A couple of buckeyes teased us but turned out to be dark Tropical Buckeyes.

On the way back we checked out "the smiley face" for Pale-rayed Skippers and Saltbush Sootywings.  We struck out.  But a bit bit down the road Mike saw some likely looking saltbush plants and expertly flushed out a Saltbush Sootywing.

A couple of days earlier I helped out with the National Butterfly Center's butterfly count.  I heard we finished with 65 species which isn't bad for late July.  Best were the several Ornythion Swallowtails and a Dark Kite-Swallowtail.  Unfortunately I left too early.  But I did get to see several Dingy Purplewings.

This ovipositing Brown-banded Skipper was a treat.