Spring at National Butterfly Center, 3/5/26

Spring has sprung!  It is windy, dry and dusty in the Ruio Grande Valley of south Texas and trees are leafing out best then can despite the continuing drought.  The wind is screaming out of the south and the air is full of dust and pollen.  I'm itching all over, inside and out!  New arrivals today at the National Butterfly Center included this Florida White.  I think it's my first for the year.

Spreadwing skippers were abundant today.  Here's the first Sickle-winged Skipper I've seen in a while.

The four most common long-tailed Skippers popped in: Long-tailed Skipper (minus tails), Dorantes Longtail, White-striped Longtail and Brown Longtail.

And some of the little exotic spread-winged skippers:  Caballo Skipper, Common Streaky Skipper and Turk's-Cap White-Skipper.

Plenty of grass skippers too.  At least a half dozen Double-dotted skippers today.

Souther Broken-Dash has been numerous lately.

Here's a pair of cavorting Whirlabouts.

Finally got a Western Giant-Swallowtail.  Big butterflies ave been hard to come by,

An Elada Checkerspot was new but at the species' usual spot by the restrooms.  I am guessing this one hatched locally.  It's fun to speculate who is local and who blew in with the wind.

So I ran the Big Board species total up to 77 which is pretty good for five days into March.  Possible rain on the way!

• Giant Swallowtail 1
• Florida White 1
• Checkered White 1
• Southern Dogface 2
• Large Orange Sulphur 5
• Lyside Sulphur 3
• Little Yellow 5
• Mimosa Yellow 2
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 1
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 1
• Cassius Blue 2
• Ceraunus Blue 1
• Reakirt's Blue 1
• American Snout 12
• Gulf Fritillary 1
• Mexican Fritillary 1
• Bordered Patch 1
• Elada Checkerspot 1
• Texan Crescent 8
• Pale-banded Crescent 6
• Red Admiral 1
• Band-celled Sister 1
• Mexican Bluewing 1
• Common Mestra 3
• Tropical Leafwing 3
• Tawny Emperor 1
• Queen 1
• White-striped Longtail 2
• Long-tailed Skipper 1
• Dorantes Longtail 1
• Brown Longtail 1
• Coyote Cloudywing 1
• Potrillo Skipper 1
• Sickle-winged Skipper 1
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 10
• Desert Checkered-Skipper 1
• Laviana White-Skipper 6
• Turk's-cap White-Skipper 1
• Common Streaky-Skipper 1
• Julia's Skipper 1
• Fawn-spotted Skipper 1
• Clouded Skipper 6
• Double-dotted Skipper 6
• Southern Skipperling 2
• Fiery Skipper 2
• Whirlabout 4
• Southern Broken-Dash 6
• Sachem 2
• Common Mellana 2
• Mexican Crescent 2

National Butterfly Center, 9/14/25

Well....  My original plan was to go to the HEB supermarket yesterday for groceries and then watch football.  But it was a nice moring so I thought what the hell.  I'll just go to the butterfly park and watch football afterwards.  The decision had disasterous consequences.  Well sort of.

Things started out great with at least a dozen Western Giant Swallowtails in the Mexican Orchid by the nursery.

Then a nice Guava Skipper popped in.  Probably the same one I glimsped last weekend.

Male Red-bordered Metalmarks are vastly under rated.

A few grasskippers were out.  Here is Clouded, Eufala, Wirlabout, and Double-dotted Skippers.

A walk up to the front gardens produced a nice Lanatana Scrub-Hairstreak.

And the first Common Sootywing I've seen in a while.

I'm discovering long-horned bees are a pain to ID except for a few easy ones like the female Tepanec Long-horned Bee with the black blotch on the stripe on abdominal segment four.

A return to the Mexican Orchid tree brought on a flurry of good butterflies.  First it was a Yellow Angled-Sulphur that my camera refused to focus on.  It was only present a few seconds as it often the case.  So I had to settle for a nearby Giant White.

I studied the flock (Do butterflies flock?) of Western Giant Swallowtails searching for an Ornython Swallowtail.  I got one!  It seems most of the ones we get are missing a large chunk of wing.  They have been blown a long ways in the wind and had to fight off a few predators.

Within a couple of minutes all three good butterflies were gone.  I watched the Mexican Orchid a while longer but nothing else unusual showed up.  So I headed for home.  

When I arrived I noticed I had a text from birder, butterflyer, and odester extraordinaire Martin Reid.  A Double-striped Thick-knee had just been found east of San Antonio near Nixon.  Yikes!  It is only the second ever north of Mexico.  As the first was taken as a specimen from the King Ranch in 1961, we've been waiting a long time.  I've seen a number of them in Chiapas near Palenque.

Well it was 2pm and I was exhausted and covered in sweat and sunscreen.  I just wasn't up for the five hour drive to maybe see the bird.  As it turned out a lot of people got it and it was still present in a pasture under a tree as the sun set.  But thick-knees are nocturnal shorebirds so it was just chilling as the hundred or so birders ticked it for their lists.  During the night it would be out feeding and there's a good possibility it might be elsewhere come morning.  So I decided to wait to see if it was refound.

Had I just gone to HEB and then watched football, I might have chased the bird when the word got out.  As I type this the Double-striped Thick-knee has not be refound.  Birders are searching on the private ranch.  I've always got an eye open for these guys as I bird the grasslands of Willacy county.  I guess I will just have to find my own.

Here's today's list of 38 species of butterflies.

• Pipevine Swallowtail 1
• Giant Swallowtail 20
• Ornythion Swallowtail 1
• Giant White 1
• Yellow Angled-Sulphur 1
• Cloudless Sulphur 1
• Large Orange Sulphur 15
• Lyside Sulphur 2
• Little Yellow 2
• Gray Hairstreak 1
• Lantana Scrub-Hairstreak 1
• Cassius Blue 1
• Ceraunus Blue 8
• Red-bordered Metalmark 3
• American Snout 5
• Gulf Fritillary 1
• Bordered Patch 4
• Phaon Crescent 20
• White Peacock 1
• Mexican Bluewing 1
• Tropical Leafwing 3
• Queen 15
• Soldier 1
• Guava Skipper 2
• Brown Longtail 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 5
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 20
• Desert Checkered-Skipper 1
• Laviana White-Skipper 4
• Common Sootywing 1
• Clouded Skipper 8
• Double-dotted Skipper 3
• Southern Skipperling 1
• Fiery Skipper 1
• Whirlabout 3
• Southern Broken-Dash 1
• Common Mellana 1
• Eufala Skipper 6

Gold-spotted Aguna at Progreso Lakes, 5/25/23

Spring bird migration is nearing an end so it's getting time to start keeping an eye on the butterflies.  This spring has been reasonably wet so far and temperatures aren't getting much above 90F so my yard is looking pretty good with lots of flowers.  Butterflies have been a little slow but today they really picked up.  After a nap this afternoon, I went to the back porch and checked the blooming duranta through my binocs.  There semed to be a tailess White-striped Longtail working the flowers but the white stripe didn't look quite right.  I grabbed my camera and ran after it.  Turned out to be a Gold-spotted Aguna.  We have had several through the years.

Earlier in the day we did have a White-striped Longtail.

Absent for a few weeks, it was nice to see our Double-dotted Skippers back in the yard.

Our other yard specialty is also doing better lately.  Boisduval's Yellows seem to finally come back after the big freeze of 2021.

This Whirlabout is coiled up to strike.

Lots of wild dill ahs produced plenty of Black Swallowtails this spring.

Here's today's list of 33 species.  As long as out temps stay mild I'm expecting some good stuff in the coming weeks.

Black Swallowtail 1

Giant Swallowtail 4

• Great Southern White 2
• Cloudless Sulphur 4
• Large Orange Sulphur 1
• Lyside Sulphur 6
• Boisduval's Yellow 3
• Little Yellow 2
• Mimosa Yellow 1
• Sleepy Orange 1
• Gray Hairstreak 1
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 3
• Gulf Fritillary 6
• Bordered Patch 2
• Texan Crescent 6
• Vesta Crescent 3
• White Peacock 3
• Carolina Satyr 3
• Queen 5
• Guava Skipper 1
• White-striped Longtail 1
• Gold-spotted Aguna 1
• Brown Longtail 4
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 8
• Laviana White-Skipper 3
• Clouded Skipper 4
• Double-dotted Skipper 1
• Southern Skipperling 2
• Fiery Skipper 1
• Whirlabout 6
• Southern Broken-Dash 2
• Common Mellana 3
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 3
• Eufala Skipper 2

Four-spotted Sailor at National Butterfly Center, 11/18/18

I was going to spend my morning in the yard today, but word came out of a Smudged Hairstreak at the National Butterfly Center.  So I raced over only to find the butterfly was gone.  And there was discussion it may have been a Marius Hairstreak anyway.  But then the Four-spotted Sailor found several days ago was refound.  And it was a male which I had never seen before so my trip was worthwhile.  Love that metallic teal!

Didn't see anything else noteworthy.  Here's a sharp Mexican Fritillary and a Mex Frit chrysalis.

And the hard-not-to-photograph Gulf Fritillary.

Don't know why but there were lots of White Checkered-Skippers around.

It's been a good fall for Theona Checkerspots.

I liked these Whirlabout photos.

So it was nice afternoon and I got so see all my butterfly friends who visit this time of year.