Our 2020 Lower Rio Grande Valley Butterfly Tour was a fantastic trip. We had a very small group this year but saw an incredible number of butterflies.
Trip Itinerary
- Day 1: Edinburg Scenic Wetlands, Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, National Butterfly Center
- Day 2:Falcon State Park, Roma Bluffs World Birding Center, McAllen Nature Center
- Day 3: Hugh Ramsey Nature Park, Resaca de la Palma State Park
- Day 4: Loma Alta, Smiley Face, South Padre Island World Birding Center
- Day 5: McAllen Nature Center, National Butterfly Center
- Day 6: Bensten Rio Grande Valley State Park, National Butterfly Center
Trip Report
Fauna Ventures LLC conducted its annual Texas Butterfly Tour from November 2nd-8th, 2020 led by Rob Gilson and Chris Talkington.
Arrivals and Day 1
After staggering arrivals on the evening of November 2th, the butterflying began after breakfast on the 3rd. We opted for a slightly later start to our 2020 Lower Rio Grande Valley Butterfly Tour and to spend our first day close to our home base. Our first stop of the day was Edinburg Scenic Wetlands where we quickly turned up 2 Guava Skippers, Purple Washed Skipper, 2 Brown Banded Skippers, Mexican Bluewing, and Tropical Leafwing.
Day one was definitely off to a great start, and after lunch, we headed south to check out the gardens of the National Butterfly Center. The butterflies at the National Butterfly Center did not disappoint, as we were checking in, a Banded Peacock was sighted on the Crucita near the front entrance, a lifer for the entire group. The excitement did not end with the Banded Peacock; the group was also able to get photographs of Texan Crescent, Pale-Banded Crescent, Evan’sSkipper, Purple Washed Skipper, Silver Banded Hairstreak, Mexican Bluewing, Red-Bordered Pixie, and Two BarredFlasher. To cap off the day, we had an exciting chase of a Red Rim in the back gardens of the National Butterfly Center. We ended this incredible first day of our 2020 tour documenting 74 species.
Day 2
For our second day, we headed west to visit Falcon State Park. The condition of the garden was slightly disappointing for the 2020 Lower Rio Grande Valley butterfly season, as the majority of the flowers were bloomed out. However, we were still able to pick up some great species; such as Lantana Scrub-Hairstreak, Silver-banded Hairstreak, Nysa Roadside Skipper. Leaving the park, we had a fun sighting of a Road Runner hunting insects. We made a brief stop at Roma Bluffs World Birding Center adding Theona Checkerspot and Florida White to our list. We finished the day at McAllen Nature Center, where we found Red-Bordered Pixie, Evan’sSkipper, and Purple Washed Skipper.
Day 3
Initially, we planned a ride east for our third day, but a potential road closure by the folks at SpaceX prompted us to remain again local. We opted to start our day at Hugh Ramsey Nature Park, which was relatively slow at the start but picked up as we located a productive patch of Crucita. We encountered our first Red-Crescent Scrub-Hairstreak, as well as a Longtail Skipper, a Silver Banded Hairstreak, and at least 10 Mexican Bluewings. Another highlight of this stop was our only sighting for the week of Collared Peccary, just one individual.
We left Hugh Ramsey before lunch and headed to Resaca de la Palma State Park, where we enjoyed a picnic before the serious butterflying commenced! The garden at Resaca de la Palma did not disappoint as we located our first BlueMetalmarks within five minutes, as well as Silver-Banded Hairstreak, Clytie Ministreak, and Red Crescent ScrubHairstreak. It wasn’t easy to pull ourselves away from the garden, but we still needed to walk Ebony Trail to find a few of our other target species. Once again, Resaca de la Palma did not disappoint as we were rewarded with more Band-Celled Sisters than we have ever seen at this site, Boisduval’s Yellow, Mazan’s Scallopwing, Brown-Banded Skipper, and Mexican Bluewings.
Day 4
On day four of our 2020 Lower Rio Grande Valley Butterfly Tour, we ventured East to scour the thorn scrub in search of some coastal specialties. We made our first stop at a known Xami Hairstreak location, Loma Alta, and checked all of the flowers and ditches twice but could not turn up a Xami. Next, we then headed to our next thorn scrub destination, Smiley Face, and were again denied the fabled Xami Hairstreak. We did find many Obscure Skippers, Great Southern Whites, and at one small patch of Crucita turned up another Blue Metalmark.
Continuing east, we enjoyed our lunch on the beach at South Padre Island and then went across the street to explore the South Padre Island World Birding Center. The SPI World Birding Center proved a nice balance to our meanderings through the thorn scrub earlier in the day. Butterfly numbers were pretty light, we did manage to find several Dark Tropical Buckeyes, and we had a lovely walk along the boardwalks enjoying the shorebirds, a cool Mangrove Warbler (subspecies of Yellow Warbler found on the east coast of Mexico to south Texas) and Roseate Spoonbills, as well as a beautiful Ornate Terrapin.
On the way back to the hotel we decided to make a stop to try for a look at Aplomado Falcons. Unfortunately, the falcons didn’t get the memo and were not around. Before leaving this last stop, we decided to spend a moment looking through the spotting scope, and we were rewarded with good looks at several distant Nilgai.
Day 5
We started at McAllen Nature Center on our last full day and worked the gardens until about 11:00, finding Nysa Roadside Skipper, Red-Bordered Pixie, and Red-Crescent Scrub-Hairstreak. We then made another visit to the NationalButterfly Center. After a brief lunch break, we ventured into the gardens hoping for a few of the rarities that were reported earlier in the week. Luck was with us once again as we spotted a beautiful Mexican Silverspot, a beat-up looking Ruby-Spotted Swallowtail, a Marius Hairstreak that had seen better days, a worn Guava Skipper, and a Two-barred Flasher. As we were returning to the hotel, we managed to pass the overpass at Conways Blvd. and the Expresswayperfectly to watch the Mexican Free-Tailed Bats emerge from the roost. What a fantastic sight!
Departure Day
Day 6 is departure day. Fortunately, flights out were all scheduled for early afternoon, so we had some more time to look for butterflies before heading home. The day started with fog and overcast skies but quickly turned into another beautiful sunny day. We spent some time at Bensten Rio Grande Valley State Park before heading back to the National Butterfly Center finding a fresh Marius Hairstreak and a Polydamas Swallowtail.
2020 Lower Rio Grande Valley Butterfly List (107 species)
Swallowtails Family Papilionidae
Pipevine Swallowtail Battus philenor
Polydamas Swallowtail Battus polydamas
Black Swallowtail Papilio polyxenes asterius
Western Giant Swallowtail Papilio rumiko
Ruby-spotted Swallowtail Heraclides anchisiades idaeus
Whites and Sulphurs Family Pieridae
Whites Subfamily Pierinae
Florida White Glutophrissa drusilla tenuis
Checkered White Pontia protodice
Great Southern White Ascia m. monuste
Giant White Ganyra josephina
Sulphurs Subfamily Coliadinae
Southern Dogface Zerene c. cesonia
Cloudless Sulphur Phoebis sennae marcellina
Large Orange Sulphur Phoebis a. agarithe
Lyside Sulphur Kricogonia lyside
Dainty Sulphur Nathalis iole
Boisduval’s Yellow Eurema arbela boisduvaliana
Sleepy Orange Abaeis nicippe
Tailed Orange Pyrisitia proterpia
Little Yellow Pyrisitia lisa
Mimosa Yellow Pyrisitia nise
Gossamer-wing Butterflies Family Lycaenidae
Hairstreaks Subfamily Theclinae
Great Blue Hairstreak Atlides halesus corcorani
Marius Hairstreak Rekoa marius
Silver-banded Hairstreak. Chlorostrymon simaethis sarita
Dusky-blue Groundstreak. Calycopis isobeon
Gray Hairstreak Strymon melinus
Red-crescent Scrub-HairstreakStrymon rufofusca
Lantana Scrub-Hairstreak Strymon b. bazochii
Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak Strymon i. istapa
Clytie Ministreak Ministrymon clytie
Blues Subfamily Polyommatinae
Western Pygmy-Blue Brephidium e. exilis
Cassius Blue Leptotes cassius cassidula
Ceraunus Blue Hemiargus ceraunus astenidas
Reakirt’s Blue Echinargus isola
Metalmarks Family Riodinidae
Fatal Metalmark Calephelis nemesis australis
Rounded Metalmark Calephelis p. perditalis
Red-bordered Metalmark Caria ino melicerta
Blue Metalmark Lasaia sula peninsularis
Red-bordered Pixie Melanis p. pixe
Brush-footed Butterflies Family Nymphalidae
Snouts Subfamily Libytheinae
American Snout Libytheana carinenta
Monarchs Subfamily Danainae
Monarch Danaus plexippus
Queen Danaus gilippus
Soldier Danaus eresimus
Heliconians and Fritillaries Subfamily Heliconiinae
Gulf Fritillary Agraulis vanillae incarnata
Mexican Silverspot Dione moneta poeyii
Julia Heliconian Dryas iulia moderata
Zebra Heliconian (Longwing) Heliconius charithonia vazquezae
Variegated Fritillary Euptoieta claudia
Mexican Fritillary Euptoieta hegesia meridiania
True Brush-foots Subfamily Nymphalinae
Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta rubria
Painted Lady Vanessa cardui
American Lady Vanessa virginiensis
Question Mark Polygonia interrogationis
Banded Peacock Anartia f. fatima
White Peacock Anartia jatrophae luteipicta
Common Buckeye Junonia coenia
Dark Tropical Buckeye Junonia evarete nigrosuffusa
Theona Checkerspot Chlosyne theona bollii
Bordered Patch Chlosyne lacinia adjutrix
Elada Checkerspot Texola elada ulrica
Pale-Banded Crescent Anthanassa tulcis
Texas Crescent Anthanassa t. texana
Vesta Crescent Phyciodes graphica vesta
Phaon Crescent Phyciodes p. phaon
Admirals and Relatives Subfamily Limenitidinae
Band-celled Sister Adelpha f. fessonia
Emperors Subfamily Apaturinae
Hackberry Emperor Asterocampa celtis
Empress Leilia Asterocampa leilia
Tawny Emperor Asterocampa clyton
Tropical Brushfoots Subfamily Biblidinae
Red Rim Biblis hyperia aganisa
Common Mestra Mestra amymone
Mexican Bluewing Myscelia e. ethusa
Leafwings Subfamily Charaxinae
Tropical Leafwing Anaea aidea
Satyrs Subfamily Satyrinae
South Texas Satyr Hermeuptychia hermybius
Skippers Family Hesperiidae
Spread-wing Skippers Subfamily Eudaminae
Guava Skipper Phocides polybius lilea
White-striped Longtail Chioides albofasciatus
Zilpa Longtail Chioides zilpa
Long-tailed Skipper Urbanus p. proteus
Dorante’s Longtail Urbanus d. dorantes
Brown Longtail Urbanus procne
Two-Barred Flasher Astraptes fulgerator
Coyote Cloudywing Achalarus toxeus
Mimosa Skipper Cogia calchas
Spread-wing Skippers Subfamily Pyrginae
Mazans Scallopwing Staphylus mazans
Brown-banded Skipper Timochares ruptifasciatus
White-patched Skipper Chiomara g. georgina
Mournful Duskywing Erynnis tristis tatius
Sickle-winged Skipper Eantis tamenund
Texas Powdered-Skipper Systasea pulverulenta
White Checkered-Skipper Pyrgus albescens
Desert Checkered-Skipper Pyrgus philetas
Tropical Checkered-Skipper Pyrgus oileus
Laviana White-Skipper Heliopetes laviana
Turk’s-cap White-Skipper Heliopetes macaira
Grass Skippers Subfamily Hesperiinae
Southern Skipperling Copaeodes minima
Obscure Skipper Panoquina p. panoquinoides
Ocola Skipper Panoquina o. ocola
Purple-Washed Skipper Panoquina lucas
Evan’s Skipper Panoquina evansi
Nysa Roadside-Skipper Amblyscirtes nysa
Julia’s Skipper Nastra julia
Fawn-spotted Skipper Cymaenes odilia
Eufala Skipper Lerodea e. eufala
Clouded Skipper Lerema accius
Fiery Skipper Hylephila p. phyleus
Whirlabout Polites vibex praeceps
Southern Broken-Dash Wallengrenia o. otho
Sachem Atalopedes campestris huron
Common Mellana Quasimellana eulogius
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