The Bug Day

10/21/17 

I had originally planned on doing a Cameron County Big Day this day, but then got to thinking that it might be a little late in the month to catch migrants, so decided at the last minute to do a Bug Day, seeing as October and November are prime months for odes and butterflies!  So shooting to get to Bentsen Rio Grande SP by 8:00, I took off around 7:30, and after checking in starting perusing the gardens and the canals for odes, seeing as it was still a little too early for butterflies (they need the sun to be shining to get the nectar flowing from the flowers).  It was actually more birdy to start, with Chachalacas running hither, thither, and yon, Green Jays yakking from the trees, and an Altamira Oriole whistling happily from across the canal.  The canal is where I ended up spending most of my time, as that can be a great place to find odes, and indeed picked up a few things: a pair of Common Green Darners in tandem and ovipositing in the water, a pair of Black Setwings doing the same (only they weren’t in tandem:  the female was ovipositing by dipping her tail repeatedly in the water, while her hubby hovered over her), and Black Saddlebags patrolling the area. 

Early morning Laviana White Skipper in Bentsen's garden

Common Green Darner

Black Setwing

Canal along the levee

By the time I was done with that the sun was shining on the flowers, so I did a repeat run, mainly in the gardens in the entrance walkway:  a female Black Setwing posed nicely but posed some ID issues until I got some help from the Ode Man himself, Dennis Paulson!  A Straw-colored Sylph finally perched and allowed a mediocre photograph, and some of the butterflies that allowed their pictures to be taken included Whirlabout, Snout, Soldier, White-patched Skipper, Phaon Crescent, and White Peacock.  A Red-bordered Metalmark was not cooperative at all, however… L

Female Black Setwing

Whirlabout male (two dorsal views and a ventral view)

American Snout

White-patched Skipper

Phaon Crescent

Straw-colored Sylph

White Peacock

Soldier

  

Next stop was the National Butterfly Center, which is easy to spend all day at (and indeed I planned on spending the rest of the day there, but my body wouldn’t let me L)!  Even before you set foot in the Visitor’s Center there are butterfly bushes out front which are usually covered in Queens, but this day I was able to find a couple of Monarchs in with them!  The little grass skippers were also all over, with more Whirlabouts, plus Southern Skipperling, and Fiery and Celia’s Roadside Skippers.  In the ode department, was pleased to shoot a nappy Checkered Setwing, and a subdued Eastern Amberwing.

Checkered Setwing

Eastern Amberwing

Queen (compare to the Soldier posted above)

Monarch

Southern Skipperling

Yet another White-patched Skipper

Fiery Skipper

Celia's Roadside Skipper

After checking in I headed to the Sunken Gardens, a rather new area where many rarities have shown up but consists mostly of good butterfly-friendly bushes in a more open area.  They also have a new bird blind overlooking a creek-like water feature, and since it didn’t look like they had food out for the birds, I went ahead and checked the “creek” for odes; about the only thing I could kick up was a female damsel of some kind that even the experts took the Fifth on (many species are plain brown, and that’s all there is…)!  On the other hand, the bushes were full of butters, the most interesting ones to me being an Olive-clouded Skipper and several Giant Whites, both South Texas specialties!  From big to little I enjoyed Giant and Pipevine Swallowtails, more Queens, Gulf and Mexican Fritillaries, a Painted Lady, Great Southern White (that I thought was a Florida White at first until the pictures revealed the tell-tail black in the wingtip veins), Southern Dogface, Large Orange, Cloudless, and Lyside Sulphurs, Dorantes and Brown Longtails, Long-tailed, White Checkered, and Eufala Skippers, and a female Sachem.  A couple of colorful moths showed up:  the tube-like Ailantha Webworm Moth, and the un-mothlike Texas Wasp Moth!  In the ode department added a Slough Amberwing (the other expected amberwing in South Texas), and a very green Thornbush Dasher!  Interestingly ran into another one of those “Yellow-sided Wood-borer Beetles”, and a Short-winged Katydid tried to blend in with the bush!

Olive-clouded Skipper

Slough Amberwing

Dorantes Longtail

Eufala Skipper

Painted Lady

Texas Wasp Moth

Long-tailed Skipper

White Checkered Skipper

Southern Dogface

Mystery female pond damsel that even the experts wouldn't touch... 

Giant Swallowtail

Brown Longtail

Female Sachem

Thornbush Dasher

Gulf Fritillary

Short-winged Katydid (it's hard to see, but the antennae go clear off to the left!)

Lyside Sulphur

This rare in-flight shot shows the dorsal pattern

Giant White

From this angle, this Great Southern White looks entirely white, so I mistook it for a Florida White at first...

...but this shot shows how the black of the forewing tips bleeds in along the veins (also, the blue antenna clubs are diagnostic)

Ailantha Webworm Moth

A Glaucous Cracker had been reported along the Hackberry Trail, so I took that to the “old gardens”, but only found Tawny Emperors that were coming in to the bait logs.  The old gardens are more wooded with a bird-feeding station, and although the feeding had died down, the Chachalacas were running all over the place here as well, along with more Green Jays and even a Cardinal that came in to see what was going on!  Checked the screech owl box for the owl, but saw that it had been overrun by a thick cluster of Africanized bees!  The best find here, however, was a Mexican Scarlettail, a dragonfly that has so recently settled into the Valley that it’s not even in the books yet (except as an addendum)!  Butters here were pretty much the same as up at the Sunken Gardens except for a brief showing of both Julia and Zebra Heliconians, and the signature Mexican Bluewing that finally showed!  A female Red-tailed Pennant posed (I thought she may have been a female scarlettail, but again Dennis came to the rescue J)!  Alas, couldn’t kick up the reported Mercurial Skipper, either, another mega-rarity.

Two views of a Mexican Scarlettail, a recent arrival to the Valley!

Julia Heliconian

Beat-up Tawny Emperor

Female Red-tailed Pennant doing "The Obelisk" (it's their way of "panting"...)

Screech Owl box taken over by bees

Curious Cardinal

Headed back to the VC for snacks and a drink (and to cool off), but couldn’t help taking another run through the Sunken Gardens on the way, this time picking up a very fresh Purple-washed Skipper (where you could actually see the purple sheen) and a tiny Lantana Scrub Hairstreak trying to hide!  Drove back down to the old gardens and poked around some more, but the only new thing I could kick up was actually an Indomitable Melipotes moth in the conservatory!  I had honestly planned on spending the whole day there, but at 2:30 it was already 92 degrees and my feet and back had had it, so decided to reluctantly throw in the towel. 

Purple-washed Skipper

Lantana Scrub Hairstreak

Indomitable Melipotes

Below are two separate lists for the bugs:

Leps:

Pipevine Swallowtail

Giant Swallowtail
Great Southern White
Giant White
Southern Dogface
Cloudless Sulphur
Large Orange Sulphur
Lyside Sulphur
Little Yellow
Sleepy Orange
Gray Hairstreak
Mallow Scrub Hairstreak
Lantana Scrub Haistreak
Ceraunus Blue
Fatal (probably) Metalmark
Red-bordered Metalmark
American Snout
Gulf Fritillary
Julia Heloconian
Zebra Heliconian
Mexican Fritillary
Bordered Patch
Phaon Crescent
Painted Lady
Red Admiral
White Peacock
Mexican Bluewing
Tawny Emperor
Monarch
Queen
Soldier
Long-tailed Skipper
Dorantes Longtail
Brown Longtail
White-patched Skipper
Mournful (probably) Duskywing
White Checkered Skipper
Tropical Checkered Skipper
Laviana White Skipper
Julia’s Skipper
Clouded Skipper
Southern Skipperling
Fiery Skipper
Whirlabout
Southern Broken Dash
Sachem
Common Mellana
Celia’s Roadside Skipper
Eufala Skipper
Olive-clouded Skipper
Purple-washed Skipper

51 SPECIES

Odes:

Pond Damsel sp.

Common Green Darner
Red-tailed Pennant
Checkered Setwing
Black Setwing
Straw-colored Sylph
Thornbush Dasher
Roseate Skimmer
Wandering Glider
Slough Amerwing
Eastern Amberwing
Mexican Scarlettail
Black Saddlebags

13 SPECIES (would probably been more had I had a real ode-hunter with me J)