National Butterfly Center, 11/6/24

Yesterday someone photographed a beat up Starred Skipper at the National Butterfly Center south of Mission, Texas.  This is a Mexican butterfly species I have never seen so I raced over this morning hoping for a lifer.  Lots of visiting butterfly watchers are in the Valley now as it is vagrant season and so far it's been pretty good.  So old butterfly friends and I spent a lot of time periodically checking the crucita patch in front of the restrooms.  It was good to see them though we never refound the Starred Skipper.

But all the eyes were sure able to find other good stuff, like this Blomfild's Beauty.  It's been a few years since I have seen this large showy Mexican species.  Sometimes they get friendly.

Nearby a Gray Cracker posed on a pale patch of fungus.  I'm not sure abouts its camouflage strategy.

The shady patches of white plumbago were popular.  This worn Two-bared Flasher spent the morning there.  It's going to take me a while to start calling it Qian's Flasher.

Other butterflies enjoying the plumbago included Coyote Cloudywing, Large Orange Sulphur and a White-striped Longtail.

Here's the obligatory Mexican Bluewing.

Up front a Marius Hairstreak was in the crucita.  It's been a good fall for them.

I have a lot more photos but you get the idea.  I saw 69 species of butterflies today but I felt like I left a few on the table.  I later found out Linda Cooper saw 76 species.  Things are flying!

• Pipevine Swallowtail 12
• Giant Swallowtail 8
• Checkered White 5
• Orange Sulphur 3
• Southern Dogface 10
• Cloudless Sulphur 5
• Large Orange Sulphur 25
• Lyside Sulphur 5
• Tailed Orange 3
• Little Yellow 5
• Mimosa Yellow 1
• Dainty Sulphur 3
• Marius Hairstreak 1
• Silver-banded Hairstreak 1
• Gray Hairstreak 4
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 10
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 1
• Ceraunus Blue 8
• Fatal Metalmark 1
• Red-bordered Metalmark 1
• Red-bordered Pixie 1
• American Snout 20
• Gulf Fritillary 3
• Zebra Heliconian 6
• Variegated Fritillary 2
• Mexican Fritillary 3
• Bordered Patch 2
• Elada Checkerspot 5
• Texan Crescent 2
• Phaon Crescent 8
• Pearl Crescent 2
• Question Mark 2
• Red Admiral 1
• Common Buckeye 2
• White Peacock 5
• Common Mestra 5
• Gray Cracker 1
• Blomfild's Beauty 1
• Tropical Leafwing 10
• Hackberry Emperor 2
• Empress Leilia 2
• Tawny Emperor 100
• Carolina Satyr 2
• Queen 40
• Soldier 1
• White-striped Longtail 3
• Zilpa Longtail 1
• Long-tailed Skipper 4
• Dorantes Longtail 3
• Brown Longtail 3
• Two-barred Flasher 1
• Coyote Cloudywing 1
• Sickle-winged Skipper 4
• Funereal Duskywing 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 12
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 3
• Desert Checkered-Skipper 1
• Laviana White-Skipper 8
• Fawn-spotted Skipper 1
• Clouded Skipper 10
• Double-dotted Skipper 15
• Southern Skipperling 1
• Fiery Skipper 50
• Whirlabout 3
• Sachem 20
• Common Mellana 5
• Eufala Skipper 8
• Brazilian Skipper 1
• Purple-washed Skipper 1

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

Progreso Lakes, 2/28/20

Despite the past two mornings dipping into the 30's there have been butterflies about and Mike Rickard recorded 65 species at the National Butterfly Center yesterday.  So I put a little effort into our Progreso Lakes yard today and was rewarded with 36 species.  Star of the day was our first Coyote Cloudywing, butterfly #120.  Coyote Cloudywing is pretty common out west at Falcon State Park but hard to get in eastern Hidalgo County.  So I wasn't sure how long it would take to record the species in our yard.  This was a really fresh one that only hung around for about a minute.

I was photographing this White-striped Longtail when the coudywing popped in.

There were both Mournful and Funerial Duskywings.

It's been a while since I've seen any Sachems.  We had two today.

We don't get Orange Sulphur very often.

This Gray Hairstreak was fresh and nicely marked.

Otherwise it was just a lot of common stuff today.  So here's a photo of a Red-bordered Pixie from a few day ago.

Here's today's list.

• Checkered White 2
• Orange Sulphur 1
• Southern Dogface 2
• Cloudless Sulphur 2
• Large Orange Sulphur 2
• Little Yellow 3
• Sleepy Orange 2
• Gray Hairstreak 1
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 1
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 2
• Texan Crescent 3
• Vesta Crescent 4
• Phaon Crescent 3
• Red Admiral 1
• White Peacock 1
• Carolina Satyr 4
• Monarch 2
• Queen 4
• White-striped Longtail 1
• Brown Longtail 4
• Coyote Cloudywing 1
• Mournful Duskywing 1
• Funereal Duskywing 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 8
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 6
• Laviana White-Skipper 3
• Julia's Skipper 1
• Fawn-spotted Skipper 1
• Clouded Skipper 3
• Southern Skipperling 3
• Fiery Skipper 5
• Whirlabout 1
• Southern Broken-Dash 2
• Sachem 2
• Common Mellana 1
• Eufala Skipper 3

Yard Butterfly #112 at Progreso Lakes, 1/8/19

I was doing a little birding and yard work today in our Progreso Lakes yard.  There was a little action on our flame vine while I was working in our cactus garden but nothing major.  I made a few sweeps of our brushy native patch and saw a Pixie and some Queens and a little pale blue that I passed off as a Cassius Blue.  After lunch I checked our garden again and saw the little blue and decided to photograph it.  What a surprise when I saw it was a Cyna Blue!  It was bigger than normal and I wonder if it's a female.  Hope it finds my little snake herb or some of our tube tongue.

Back at the flame vine there was a sweet Guava Skipper.  I see these a couple of times per week.

Much less common was this Dorantes Longtail.

It took a while before I could get a shot of this White-striped Longtail.  Finally it rested on the palm stump.

Still a few Red-bordered Pixies around.

We would make a big deal about Queens if they weren't so common.

Progreso Lakes, 9/23/18

With the long hot dry summer there has been few butterflies around.  But we've had some rain lately and another shower last night seem to really bring out the butterflies in our Progreso Lakes yard.  Glad to have Double-dotted Skippers back after an absence of a few months.

Guava Skippers have been regular lately though I don't have any guavas.

This White-striped Longtail looked really fresh.

But this Long-tailed Skipper barely had enough markings left to be identifiable.

A fresh Clytie Ministreak is always pretty.

Been a while since I've seen the common Fiery Skipper.

Queens are starting pick up in numbers.

Nothing rare but the 31 species seen is the most we've had since last winter.  I will try to post a little more regularly now that we're getting bugs.

• Pipevine Swallowtail 1
• Giant Swallowtail 1
• Cloudless Sulphur 2
• Large Orange Sulphur 3
• Little Yellow 3
• Gray Hairstreak 1
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 1
• Clytie Ministreak 1
• Rounded Metalmark 1
• American Snout 12
• Phaon Crescent 3
• White Peacock 2
• Tawny Emperor 1
• Carolina Satyr 2
• Queen 3
• Guava Skipper 2
• White-striped Longtail 2
• Long-tailed Skipper 1
• Brown Longtail 1
• Mimosa Skipper 1
• Sickle-winged Skipper 1
• Funereal Duskywing 2
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 6
• Laviana White-Skipper 1
• Clouded Skipper 8
• Double-dotted Skipper 1
• Fiery Skipper 1
• Whirlabout 2
• Southern Broken-Dash 2
• Celia's Roadside-Skipper 2
• Eufala Skipper 1