Xmas Day Goodies at the NBC, 12/25/25

Merry Christmas.  The National Butterfly Center was officially closed today but Stephanie left the gate open for us hard core papillonistas (That's my new moniker for us butterfly watchers.)  Christmas time averages to about our coldest time of the year in the RGV but sunny and 85F was on tap for today.  Butterflies responded.  My best find was this Northern Faceted Skipper in the ditch on the exact same plumbago where I found one on Nov 29, 26 days ago.  My guess is it's the same bug.

Here's the one from 11/29/25.  It's less worn but that's about the only evidence it's the same indiviual.

Then John Rosford found this scruffy male Chestnut Crescent.  It's been a while since I've seen one.

A huge White Angled Sulphur toyed with us.  I evenutally caught an open winged shot.

Otherwise it was just the same bunch of great butterflies we've been seeing lately.  Like Silver and Pavon emperors.

And Band-celled Sister and Malachites.

Terry and I saw this mid-sized yellow flying floppily.  I yelled "We have to chase that one! " I was hoping for Dina or Salome Yellow.  We chased it a long way and eventually it took a brief rest.  Boisduval's Yellow is pretty uncommon at the NBC.

Mexican Bluewings are hard to come by this winter.

This brightly colored crescent got me thinking about more exotic Anthanassa but she was cavorting with a male Pale-banded.  So I guess that's what she is.

Well, I guess I should get out and find some more bugs.

Good day at the NBC, 12/28/24

Took a day off to rest and get caught up on photos and work on the blog and stuff.  Yesterday was quite a day at the National Butterfly Center south of Mission, Texas.  I didn't find a lot of great stuff on my own but I manged to survive on the spoils of Mak and Holly Salvato's expertise and efforts.  Their best find was this Spot-celled Sister of which there are not many recordgs for the RGV.  I think it's my fourth.

There were also two of the similar but more common Band-celled sister.

Earlier in the day Mark found a Yellow Angled-Sulphur.  It was distant but that allowed my to fire away multiple exposures to get flight shots.

A short while later Mark called "White Angled-Sulphur!"  I thought it was a female and asked him how he made the ID.  But it was a male.

It took me a while but I eventually found Mark's Glazed Pellicia.

The Gray Cracker continued on its usual trunk.  It did fly into the bait log and allowed a closer shot.

Mark and Holly also found this cool Pale-spotted Leafwing.  Been quite a few this fall.  I crawled down under it and got some interesting shots before it returned to the bait.  I like that hooked fore wing.

More interesting flight shots included Florida White, Tailed Orange and a White-striped Longtail.

Here's the obligatory Mexican Bluewing and REd-bordered Pixie.

That's enough.  Here's the list of 64 species.

• Pipevine Swallowtail 2
• Giant Swallowtail 2
• Florida White 4
• Great Southern White 3
• Southern Dogface 3
• White Angled-Sulphur 1
• Yellow Angled-Sulphur 1
• Cloudless Sulphur 4
• Large Orange Sulphur 15
• Statira Sulphur 1
• Lyside Sulphur 10
• Mexican Yellow 1
• Tailed Orange 5
• Little Yellow 5
• Mimosa Yellow 1
• Sleepy Orange 1
• Marius Hairstreak 4
• Silver-banded Hairstreak 1
• Gray Hairstreak 2
• Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 12
• Lantana Scrub-Hairstreak 1
• Dusky-blue Groundstreak 4
• Clytie Ministreak 1
• Cassius Blue 2
• Ceraunus Blue 20
• Reakirt's Blue 2
• Red-bordered Pixie 5
• American Snout 12
• Gulf Fritillary 1
• Julia Heliconian 1
• Zebra Heliconian 8
• Mexican Fritillary 1
• Texan Crescent 1
• Vesta Crescent 1
• Phaon Crescent 5
• Question Mark 1
• Red Admiral 8
• White Peacock 2
• Band-celled Sister 2
• Spot-celled Sister 1
• Mexican Bluewing 4
• Common Mestra 8
• Gray Cracker 1
• Pale-spotted Leafwing 1
• Tawny Emperor 1
• Monarch 6
• Queen 25
• Soldier 2
• White-striped Longtail 3
• Long-tailed Skipper 2
• Dorantes Longtail 3
• Brown Longtail 2
• Glazed Pellicia 1
• Funereal Duskywing 1
• White Checkered-Skipper 3
• Tropical Checkered-Skipper 5
• Laviana White-Skipper 10
• Clouded Skipper 6
• Southern Skipperling 1
• Fiery Skipper 5
• Whirlabout 2
• Sachem 8
• Common Mellana 1
• Eufala Skipper 4

An Invasion of Gold-spotted Agunas, 8/3/20

On August 2 Ernest Herrera found a Gold-spotted Aguna at his home near Mission.  We usually get one or two every year in the Rio Grande Valley but they're still pretty rare and always a nice surprise.  So I was shocked the next day to find three of them in our yard!  We had one previously a couple of years ago.  What's even more amazing is that on the 4th, Ernest found two more at Quinta Mazatlan in McAllen.  And then Juan Chavez found two more at his home in Edinberg.  Obviously Gold-spotted Agunas are breeding somewhere not very far away.  I bet more of them show up.  Here's some photos from our yard.

The first two were in our blooming Tenaza.  But then I found another large skipper in the Duranta that didn't seem to have a white band.  I was hoping for Broken Silverdrop.  But after looking at the photos, the white band was just worn and it was a third Gold-spotted Aguna.

Well that made for a pretty good day but that's not all.  There was a Brown-banded Skipper laying eggs on a Barbados cherry; first one for the year.

And then this beat up Ruddy Daggerwing dropped in.  I wonder if it was the same one from last week.

The day started with this female Yellow Angled Sulphur.

These two Tropical Leafwings were getting chummy.

The day before on 8/2/20 we had this nice fat female Orang-barred Sulphfur laying eggs on the Senna.

And to get all caught up, yesterday 8/5 our brush patch was briefly visited by this fresh Zebra Heliconian.  They are pretty common but it was only our second.  I think they probably just blow through and I miss them.

Polydamas Madness at Progreso Lakes, 7/16/20

Last year I had lots of Polydamas Swallowtail caterpillars on the Giant Dutchman's Pipevine in our yard at Progreso Lakes but I saw few fresh adults.  So this year I've been collecting a few fat cats to raise safely away from predators.  This morning one that was running a little late finally emerged.

This is the second one that's eclosed in captivity but they seem to be doing pretty good on their own this year.  I saw five at once today with several ovipositing.

The same female Ornythion Swallowtail from two days ago was back.

Big lazy Western Giant Swallowtail.

Still two Yellow Angled-Sulphurs.  That makes 14 straight days.

Butterfly numbers are way down which seems to correlate well with mosquitos.  I didn't get a single bite.  Nice to see a Mimosa Skipper.

I've left a lot of the Wireweeds to grow this year.  They really attract a lot of butterflies in the Fall with their purple aster like flowers.  I think they are also a host for Pearl Crescent which I saw in the yard today.

Chance of rain the next few days.  We could sure use some.