Zapata Museum of History, 10/22/25

After my good day in Zapata last week I thought it was worth another effort.  Also I noticed I was second on iNaturalist on the list of butterflies for not often visited Zapata County.  Can't have that.  So I got a pretty early start and arrived at the butterfly garden  at the Zapata Museum of History at 9:30.  Queens were already out in force.

Got a photo of the Pipevine Swallowtail I missed last week.

Time to start digging through the skippers.  Lots of Huron Sachems.

I discovered the garden also goes behind the Museum.  Ocola Skippers have really invaded the Valley during the past few weeks.

And then an Ocola with the forewing extending back too far.  Purple-washed Skipper!  There were several, some even showing the extra spot.

And then another new one for my Zapata County list....  Turk's-Cap White-Skipper, a nice female which I don't see very often.

Back in the front was a fresh Skinner's (formerly Coyote) Cloudywing.

And a fresh Julia's Skipper.

And an Olive-clouded Skipper.  Very few records for these last two in Zapata County.

And then another trip to the back netted an Erichson's White-Skipper.  These are probably not rare up here.

38 species seems pretty good for that garden, almost half of them from the familiy Hesperiidae.  As Jeff Bryant said it was a skipperlicious day!

• Pipevine Swallowtail 1
• Southern Dogface 6
• Cloudless Sulphur 5
• Orange-barred Sulphur 20
• Lyside Sulphur 20
• Little Yellow 2
• Sleepy Orange 2
• Gray Hairstreak 10
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 5
• Ceraunus Blue 10
• Fatal Metalmark 1
• American Snout 5
• Gulf Fritillary 15
• Theona Checkerspot 1
• Bordered Patch 3
• Elada Checkerspot 1
• Phaon Crescent 1
• Common Buckeye 1
• White Peacock 8
• Queen 80
• Dorantes Longtail 1
• Coyote Cloudywing 2
• Sickle-winged Skipper 1
• White-patched Skipper 2
• Funereal Duskywing 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 2
• Erichson's White-Skipper 1
• Turk's-cap White-Skipper 1
• Julia's Skipper 1
• Clouded Skipper 25
• Fiery Skipper 40
• Whirlabout 1
• Sachem 25
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 3
• Eufala Skipper 40
• Olive-clouded Skipper 1
• Ocola Skipper 8
• Purple-washed Skipper 5

Happy New Year from Progreso Lakes, 1/2/23

 After some really cold weather over Christmas, things seem to be coming back.  Some of my exotic plants got hit by a couple of days in the low 30s but the native plants seem none the worse.  Butterfly numbers got clobbered by the cold but after highs reached the mid 80s today, I was able to find 24 species.  It took a while before this Boisduval's Yellow slowed down enough for a photo.

There were also a few Lyside, Cloudless and Large ornge Sulphurs.

Turk's-Cap White-Skipper was a nice surprise.

This Common Mellana had a bit of a purplish iridescence.  I don't think I've ever noticed that before.

Nothing else really exciting.  Here's the list.

Checkered White 4

• Cloudless Sulphur 3
• Large Orange Sulphur 1
• Lyside Sulphur 3
• Boisduval's Yellow 1
• Little Yellow 2
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 5
• American Snout 2
• Gulf Fritillary 4
• Vesta Crescent 2
• Phaon Crescent 1
• Red Admiral 1
• Carolina Satyr 8
• Monarch 1
• Queen 1
• Brown Longtail 2
• Funereal Duskywing 1
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 5
• Laviana White-Skipper 2
• Turk's-cap White-Skipper 1
• Clouded Skipper 4
• Fiery Skipper 1
• Common Mellana 1
• Eufala Skipper 2

Ruddy Hairstreak? at Progreso Lakes, 2/22/22

After a lot of cold weather, things have warmed up for a few days and butterflies are out.  Our elbow bush is blooming up a storm and attracting a few hairstreaks so I paid extra attention to it today and got rewarded with a tiny little hairstreak that I instantly recognized as new for the yard.  It was the size of Ruddy Hairstreaks I have seen in the past though I was getting no orange color above.  After getting a bunch of photos I went into the house to look at them and come up with an ID.  It looked a lot like Ruddy Hairstreak though I didn't like how the post median band was so far from the thecla spot.  It looked much like Mathew's Hairstreak in Glassberg's book but that one has some pale cell end bars.  I posted the photos on Facebook and most agreed it looked like a Ruddy Hairstreak.  Muted Hairstreak is pretty much identical but seems to be very rare in the RGV.  Males can be separated by the color of the upper wings but we don't know how to ID females.

So in conclusion I'm calling it a Ruddy Hairstreak untill someone can prove different.  And either way it's yard butterfly #143.

Here's one of several Gray Hairstreaks form the same elbow bush.

And there were a couple of Dusky-blue Groundstreaks.

New for the year was this Turk's-cap White-Skipper.

Lots of copulating today.  Here's Gulf Fritillaries and Whirlabouts.

This winter form South Texas Satyr is pretty much spotless.

We had 31 species today but I'm to tired to make a list now.  More warm weather tomorrow.

Tailed Aguna at Progreso Lakes, 10/25/21

My goal today was to get out and do some scouting for the Texas Butterfly Festival.  But as usual I needed to check out our yard first.  My reward was our first Tailed Aguna at Progreso Lakes.  Yard butterfly #133 was the third I have found on my own of this species, the other two being years ago at Estero and the Hidalgo Pumphouse.

The other good find was this fresh male Mexican Bluewing which was just a few feet from the female who has been hanging out in our brush patch.  Maybe they will get "busy".  The female has more extensive white spotting on the forewing.

Been a while since I've seen a Painted Lady.

I finally got out of the yard and did some scouting up in the brush country north of TX 186.  Not many flowers out there but there were a few clumps of Crucita on Brushline Rd and some blooming Coma.  Best find was a couple of Erichson's White-Skippers.

And a few Turk's Cap White-Skippers.

Found a few Desert Checkered-Skippers on CR 30 just over in Willacy County but the few floweres had few butterflies.

And also a Mexican Fritillary.  Notice this one and the one above are both perched onthe nasty grass burs which take some of the fun out of CR 30.

Here's my yard list for the morning.

• Pipevine Swallowtail 1
• Giant Swallowtail 2
• Cloudless Sulphur 2
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 1
• Gulf Fritillary 1
• Elada Crescent 1
• Phaon Crescent 1
• Painted Lady 1
• White Peacock 3
• Tawny Emperor 3
• Queen 20
• Soldier 5
• White-striped Longtail 1
• Tailed Aguna 1
• Brown Longtail 3
• Mimosa Skipper 1
• Sickle-winged Skipper 5
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 2
• Laviana White-Skipper 1
• Clouded Skipper 8
• Double-dotted Skipper 1
• Fiery Skipper 3
• Whirlabout 2
• Common Mellana 1
• Eufala Skipper 2
• Ocola Skipper 1

Progreso Lakes yard, 8/31/20

We haven't had any rain for four weeks but hot southerly wind blew up some new butterflies today here at Progreso Lakes.  I saw this Orange-barred Sulphur for only a few seconds.  

This Florida White is first I've seen since Spring.

I caught a glimpse of our fourth Ornythion Swallowtail of the summer and latter found it perched in our brush patch out of the wind.

The much more common Western Giant Swallowtail is superficially similar and also brighter yellow.

Here's one of two White-striped Longtails.

I wonder if any of our Sickle-winged Skippers are laying eggs on our Colima.

This Common Mellana has been hanging around for about a week and picks a fight with every butterfly it sees.

This is only the third Mexican Bluewing I have seen in our yard.  It acted like it was laying eggs on our Vasey's Adelia.

It's been quite a while since we've had a Turk's-Cap White-Skipper.

There's a good chance of rain next wekend but it's gonna be tripple digits till then. 

• Ornythion Swallowtail 1
• Western Tiger Swallowtail 2
• Florida White 1
• Cloudless Sulphur 6
• Orange-barred Sulphur 1
• Large Orange Sulphur 10
• Lyside Sulphur 1
• Little Yellow 1
• Cassius Blue 6
• American Snout 50
• Bordered Patch 2
• White Peacock 2
• Mexican Bluewing 1
• Common Mestra 1
• Tropical Leafwing 1
• Tawny Emperor 6
• Monarch 6
• White-striped Longtail 2
• Brown Longtail 1
• Sickle-winged Skipper 2
• White-patched Skipper 1
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 1
• Laviana White-Skipper 10
• Turk's-cap White-Skipper 1
• Clouded Skipper 5
• Whirlabout 4
• Common Mellana 1
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 1

Progreso Lakes, 3/12/18

This afternoon I was working in the butterfly garden in our yard at Progreso Lakes when a sharp Julia's Heliconian came cruising by.  It told me to put down the shovel and pick up the camera.

Then I saw a little brown spreadwing skipper....Mazan's Scallopwing!  This is a butterfly that likes shady brushy areas and I thought it might be a while before we add this one to our yard list.  But there it was, butterfly #106.

Then there was this guy.  I thought it was just a Celia's Roadside-Skipper in a nice pose.  But looking at Glassberg, it has a lot of the field marks of Bell's Roadside-Skipper from NE Texas.  We will see what people think.

Here's a Turk's-cap White-Skipper.

When we bought this place fifteen months ago I never dreamed that Double-dotted Skipper would be a regular in our yard.  I love 'em.

Here's a very bright female Sachem.

And a Southern Broken-Dash.

This White-striped Longtail was all over our acre yard.

A couple of hours later the day's list stood at 34 species.  Pretty good.

• Pipevine Swallowtail 1
• Giant Swallowtail 2
• Checkered White 1
• Orange Sulphur 1
• Lyside Sulphur 1
• Gray Hairstreak 1
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 1
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 6
• Reakirt's Blue 1
• American Snout 1
• Julia Heliconian 1
• Bordered Patch 2
• Texan Crescent 1
• Phaon Crescent 2
• Pearl Crescent 1
• Red Admiral 1
• Carolina Satyr 15
• Monarch 1
• White-striped Longtail 1
• Brown Longtail 4
• Mazans Scallopwing 1
• Funereal Duskywing 3
• White Checkered-Skipper 3
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper20
• Turk's-cap White-Skipper 1
• Julia's Skipper 3
• Fawn-spotted Skipper 1
• Clouded Skipper 4
• Double-dotted Skipper 2
• Whirlabout 1
• Southern Broken-Dash 2
• Sachem 2
• Bell's Roadside-Skipper 1
• Eufala Skipper 2