Rio Brazos Audubon Society North American Butterfly Count

Our Rio Brazos Audubon club conducted its annual Butterfly Count this past Saturday.  We managed to find 30 species (201 individual butterflies) in the heat.  This count begins at Lick Creek Park and includes a 6 mile radius of the park. 

Total list of butterfly species seen:  Pipevine Swallowtail, Giant Swallowtail, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Cloudless Sulphur, Little Yellow, Sleepy Orange, Dainty Sulphur, Gray Hairstreak, Red-banded Hairstreak, Ceraunus Blue, Reakirt's Blue, American Snout, Gulf Fritillary, Silvery Checkerspot, Phaon Crescent, Pearl Crescent, American Lady, Common Buckeye, Hackberry Emperor, Tawny Emperor, Carolina Satyr, Monarch, Queen, Horace's Duskywing, Common Checkered-Skipper, Tropical Checkered-Skipper, Clouded Skipper, Least Skipper, Southern Skipperling, Fiery Skipper

Here are photos of some of the butterflies: (you can click on any photo to see enlarged images)

                                                                 Carolina Satyr

                                            
                                                               Clouded Skippers

 

Pearl Crescent

 

Common/White Checkered-Skipper

 

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, dark morph female

 

Little Yellow

 

Southern Skipperling

 

Tropical Checkered-Skipper

 

Common Buckeye

 

Hackberry Emperor

 

Silvery Checkerspot

 

Sleepy Orange

 

Least Skipper

 

Least Skipper taking off

 

Fiery Skipper

 

Ceraunus Blue

 

Little Yellows "puddling" in not much of a puddle

 

Dainty Sulphur

 

Queen

 

Monarch

 

 American Lady

 

Summer Butterflies in Kurten

After a slow start for butterflies this year in the spring due to unusual, heavy rains, the summer ushered in even fewer butterflies.  I have noticed an increase in the last 2 days, so perhaps the heat is finally bringing the butterflies.  Today's sightings:

Dainty Sulphur,  Little Yellow, Clouded Sulphur, Queen, Horace's Duskywing, Eufala, Tailed Orange!!, Giant Swallowtail, Fiery Skipper, Clouded Skipper  -- 10 species. 

It will get better.

Star of the day, a summer form Tailed Orange.  At first, I thought it was a very orange-y Sleepy Orange, but then I noticed it was so plain on the ventral side.  Yep, a Tailed Orange. 

 Another butterfly of interest in my area this summer is the Tropical Checkered-Skipper.

And, I was excited to see a Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak. (7-1-16)  Only saw Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak one other time this summer.