Progreso Lakes, 6/15/19

Well, it's been a long dry, boring spring but we got a little rain last week and a butterflies are starting to pick up at Progreso Lakes.  The big news is the giant Dutchman's pipe I planted last summer has finally attracted a Polydamas Swallowtail and she's been laying eggs.

I've been putting out banana brew the past week and have had a few Questionmarks show up.

And there's been more Tawny Emperors than I've seen in our two and a half years here.

We don't get many Varigated Fritillaries.

We get lots more Gulf Fritllaries.

First Soldier we've had in a while.

Plenty of Queens lately.

Not many yards can boast of Double-dotted Skippers but they are not rare here at Progreso Lakes.

This Red-bordered Pixie was ovipositing on our guamuchil before it landed in the bottlebrush.

Anyway things are looking up and I will try to post more often.  Still lots of butterflies out there to add to our yard list.

National Butterfly Center, 12/5/13

Our last last front really knocked down the number of butterflies in the RGV.  They've been slowly rebounding with the recent warm weather but instead of seeing more than 70 species at the National Butterfly Center as I did a few weeks ago, today I got only 56.  With another cold front due tonight I was hoping for some good stuff to blow up from the south.  And though it was an interesting day there was nothing fantastic.  Best butterfly was an Isabella's Heliconian that refused to stop for a photo.  A Julia's Heliconian proved to be much more cooperative.

Here in the RGV I would rate the Zilpa Longtail as the fifth most commonly seen of the long tailed skippers so it's always a treat for me to see one.

The day started with Honey finding this sharp Great Purple Hairstreak in the garden behind the visitor's center.

There's been a few Malachites around for the past few weeks.  Today there were at least four of them in the park.

This one refused to move as Honey moved in for the photo.  The Topical Leafwing was a bonus.

It's been several weeks since I had seen a Varigated Fritillary.

Here's the Questionmark for the day.

I saw at least eight Giant Whites on this warm prefrontal day.

Here was the best looking of many Dusky-blue Groundstreaks seen today.

Yesterday I made a run over to Santa Ana NWR and was pleased to see the East-Mexican  White-Skippers had survived the last cold spell.  They have another cold week coming up.

National Butterfly Center, 9/13/13

A low pressure system in the Gulf was sending northeast winds and clouds to the National Butterfly Center resulting in a bit less activity than my last visit, but there was still stuff to see.  It had been months since my last Lantana Scrub-Hairstreak.  This one was in the garden behind the visitors center.

In the same garden was an Urbanus that proved to be the expected Long-tailed Skipper.

Caterpillars have been hard to find in the RGV during our prolonged drought.  Here's a Tropical Leafwing larva feeding on Croton.

I wrestled with this white skipper trying to turn it into a non-Laviana/Turk's Cap but I lost.  It's just a Laviana White-Skipper.

The Brush Holley is in bloom again and I checked it out for daggerwings.  Sure enough there was a worn Ruddy Daggerwing hiding inside.

Last time I posted a photo of a very colorful White Peacock.  Here is the dorsal view of the same individual.

A Mexican Fritillary was trying to mate with this Variegated Fritillary.