December 2013 Sightings

Barbara Peck

Anderson River Park
Shasta County, CA

Weather continues drier than normal. We have had frosty mornings for a week now but the days are often pleasant in the 70’s at least.

  • Orange Sulphur 1

Lisa Michelle Reid

Bulverde/Spring Branch Library butterfly garden
Comal County, TX

Butterflies were swarming in the garden today! White Mist Flower and Rosemary were very popular hangouts for the little beauties as well as a few

  • Orange Sulphur 5
  • Southern Dogface 10
  • Little Yellow 4
  • Sleepy Orange 50
  • Dainty Sulphur 30
  • Reakirt's Blue 8
  • American Snout 35
  • Gulf Fritillary 2
  • Variegated Fritillary 15
  • American Lady 3
  • Painted Lady 2
  • Common Checkered-Skipper 7

Painted Lady

Dainty Sulphur

Sleepy Orange

Southern Dogface

Reakirt's Blue

Gulf Fritillary

American Lady

Variegated Fritillary

American Snout

Linda Cooper

Hidalgo, Cameron and Starr Counties in the LRGV
Hidalgo County, TX

This covers the total species we saw in these three counties from October 19 thru Dec 1, 2013. In Starr County from Roma to Chapeno; Hidalgo County from Bentsen Rio Grande SP, NBC, Santa Ana, Frontera Audubon, Valley Nature Center, Estero Llano Grande SP; Cameron County from Resaca de la Palmas SP, Hwy. 4 and points in between. 138 species and 2 lifers - Zebra Cross-streak (saw all 3) and Hecebolus Skipper (Buck only). Interesting in that some species common in other years we did not see this year. Weather varied from a low of 41° to a high of 92° with one week of continuous cold late in November and several other scattered cold or rainy days. Any place you can see 15 species of hairstreaks is a GREAT place! Linda and Buck Cooper

  • Pipevine Swallowtail
  • Black Swallowtail
  • Giant Swallowtail
  • Ruby-spotted Swallowtail 1
  • Florida White 1
  • Checkered White
  • Great Southern White common
  • Giant White common
  • Orange Sulphur
  • Southern Dogface abundant
  • Yellow Angled-Sulphur 1
  • Cloudless Sulphur common
  • Orange-barred Sulphur 1
  • Large Orange Sulphur abundant
  • Statira Sulphur 1
  • Lyside Sulphur abundant
  • Boisduval's Yellow common
  • Mexican Yellow
  • Tailed Orange common
  • Little Yellow abundant
  • Mimosa Yellow common
  • Sleepy Orange
  • Dainty Sulphur abundant
  • Strophius Hairstreak 1
  • Great Purple Hairstreak common
  • Marius Hairstreak 2
  • Silver-banded Hairstreak common
  • Clench's Greenstreak 1
  • Xami Hairstreak 6
  • Zebra Cross-streak 3
  • Gray Hairstreak common
  • Red-crescent Scrub-Hairstreak 2
  • Yojoa Scrub-Hairstreak 1
  • Lacey's Scrub-Hairstreak 1
  • Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak abundant
  • Lantana Scrub-Hairstreak
  • Dusky-blue Groundstreak common
  • Clytie Ministreak common
  • Western Pygmy-Blue abundant
  • Cassius Blue common
  • Marine Blue
  • Ceraunus Blue abundant
  • Reakirt's Blue
  • Fatal Metalmark common
  • Rounded Metalmark 3
  • Red-bordered Metalmark common
  • Blue Metalmark common
  • Red-bordered Pixie common
  • American Snout superabundant
  • Gulf Fritillary common
  • Julia Heliconian 3
  • Isabella's Heliconian 1
  • Zebra Heliconian
  • Variegated Fritillary common
  • Mexican Fritillary common
  • Theona Checkerspot abundant
  • Bordered Patch common
  • Crimson Patch common
  • Tiny Checkerspot 2
  • Elada Checkerspot common
  • Texan Crescent
  • Pale-banded Crescent common
  • Vesta Crescent abundant
  • Phaon Crescent abundant
  • Pearl Crescent common
  • Question Mark
  • American Lady
  • Painted Lady
  • Red Admiral common
  • Common Buckeye
  • Tropical Buckeye
  • White Peacock abundant
  • Malachite 8
  • Band-celled Sister common
  • Mexican Bluewing common
  • Common Mestra abundant
  • Red Rim 1
  • Gray Cracker 2
  • Guatemalan Cracker 1
  • Blomfild's Beauty 2
  • Ruddy Daggerwing
  • Tropical Leafwing common
  • Goatweed Leafwing 2
  • Hackberry Emperor
  • Empress Leilia common
  • Tawny Emperor superabundant
  • Gemmed Satyr 1
  • Carolina Satyr common
  • Monarch
  • Queen superabundant
  • Soldier common
  • Guava Skipper 1
  • Hammock Skipper 2
  • White-striped Longtail common
  • Zilpa Longtail
  • Long-tailed Skipper
  • Dorantes Longtail
  • Brown Longtail abundant
  • Coyote Cloudywing common
  • Potrillo Skipper 3
  • Falcate Skipper 2
  • Mimosa Skipper common
  • Acacia Skipper 1
  • Mazans Scallopwing common
  • Texas Powdered-Skipper 3
  • Sickle-winged Skipper abundant
  • Brown-banded Skipper
  • White-patched Skipper common
  • Horace's Duskywing
  • Mournful Duskywing
  • Funereal Duskywing
  • White Checkered-Skipper abundant
  • Tropical Checkered-Skipper common
  • Desert Checkered-Skipper
  • Erichson's White-Skipper 7
  • Laviana White-Skipper abundant
  • Turk's-cap White-Skipper common
  • Common Sootywing 4
  • Saltbush Sootywing 3
  • Julia's Skipper
  • Fawn-spotted Skipper common
  • Clouded Skipper abundant
  • Southern Skipperling common
  • Fiery Skipper common
  • Whirlabout common
  • Southern Broken-Dash common
  • Sachem common
  • Common Mellana common
  • Nysa Roadside-Skipper 1
  • Celia's Roadside-Skipper 3
  • Eufala Skipper common
  • Olive-clouded Skipper
  • Brazilian Skipper
  • Obscure Skipper common
  • Ocola Skipper
  • Hecebolus Skipper 1
  • Purple-washed Skipper common
  • Violet-banded Skipper 3

David L. Amadio

Riverwinds River Trail, West Deptford
Gloucester County, NJ

Unseasonable temperature of just over 60 degrees today. Found the Clouded Sulphur nectaring on dandelion, the only available nectar source.

  • Clouded Sulphur 1

Clouded Sulphur

Mark and Holly Salvato

National Butterfly Center, Mission
Hidalgo County, TX

Tiger Mimic-Queen was observed in the very late afternoon and was still present the following morning for a few hours.

  • Pipevine Swallowtail
  • Checkered White
  • Cloudless Sulphur
  • Large Orange Sulphur
  • Lyside Sulphur
  • Mexican Yellow
  • Little Yellow
  • Sleepy Orange
  • Dainty Sulphur
  • Great Purple Hairstreak
  • Gray Hairstreak
  • Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak
  • Dusky-blue Groundstreak
  • Ceraunus Blue
  • Reakirt's Blue
  • American Snout
  • Gulf Fritillary
  • Mexican Silverspot 1
  • Zebra Heliconian
  • Vesta Crescent
  • Phaon Crescent
  • Pearl Crescent
  • Red Admiral
  • White Peacock
  • Common Mestra
  • Tropical Leafwing
  • Tawny Emperor
  • Carolina Satyr
  • Monarch
  • Queen
  • Soldier
  • Tiger Mimic-Queen 1
  • Brown Longtail
  • White Checkered-Skipper
  • Tropical Checkered-Skipper
  • Laviana White-Skipper
  • Julia's Skipper
  • Clouded Skipper
  • Southern Skipperling
  • Fiery Skipper
  • Eufala Skipper

Mexican Silverspot

Tiger Mimic-Queen

Mexican Silverspot

Tiger Mimic-Queen

Mexican Silverspot

James L. Monroe

Paleo Hammock
St. Lucie County, FL

warm, mid-80s

  • Giant Swallowtail 1
  • Great Southern White 1
  • Cloudless Sulphur 4
  • Large Orange Sulphur 2
  • Barred Yellow 15
  • Red-banded Hairstreak 2
  • Gulf Fritillary 4
  • Zebra Heliconian 30
  • Pearl Crescent 1
  • Common Buckeye 1
  • White Peacock 1
  • Carolina Satyr 60
  • Monarch 1
  • Queen 7
  • Long-tailed Skipper 11
  • Dorantes Longtail 4
  • Tropical Checkered-Skipper 3
  • Monk Skipper 1
  • Ocola Skipper 8

Ocola Skipper

Eric Whiteside

Big Coppit Key, Mama's Garden Center
Monroe County, FL

Garden Center

  • Large Orange Sulphur common
  • Cassius Blue common
  • Mangrove Skipper common
  • Long-tailed Skipper common
  • Southern Broken-Dash common
  • Monk Skipper common

Monk Skipper

Long-tailed Skipper

Long-tailed Skipper

Mangrove Skipper

Cassius Blue

Long-tailed Skipper

Mark and Holly Salvato

National Butterfly Center, Mission
Hidalgo County, TX

  • Pipevine Swallowtail
  • Checkered White
  • Giant White 1
  • Southern Dogface
  • Cloudless Sulphur
  • Large Orange Sulphur
  • Lyside Sulphur
  • Little Yellow
  • Sleepy Orange
  • Dainty Sulphur
  • Silver-banded Hairstreak
  • Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak
  • Dusky-blue Groundstreak
  • Clytie Ministreak
  • Western Pygmy-Blue
  • Reakirt's Blue
  • Fatal Metalmark
  • American Snout
  • Gulf Fritillary
  • Mexican Silverspot 1
  • Julia Heliconian
  • Zebra Heliconian
  • Mexican Fritillary
  • Vesta Crescent
  • Phaon Crescent
  • Question Mark 1
  • American Lady
  • Red Admiral
  • Common Buckeye
  • Band-celled Sister 1
  • Mexican Bluewing
  • Common Mestra
  • Blomfild's Beauty 1
  • Tropical Leafwing
  • Empress Leilia
  • Tawny Emperor
  • Carolina Satyr
  • Monarch
  • Queen
  • Soldier
  • Tiger Mimic-Queen 1
  • Long-tailed Skipper
  • Brown Longtail
  • White-patched Skipper
  • White Checkered-Skipper
  • Tropical Checkered-Skipper
  • Laviana White-Skipper
  • Julia's Skipper
  • Fawn-spotted Skipper
  • Clouded Skipper
  • Southern Skipperling
  • Fiery Skipper
  • Southern Broken-Dash
  • Eufala Skipper
  • Olive-clouded Skipper 2
  • Purple-washed Skipper 2

Blomfild's Beauty

Tiger Mimic-Queen

Tiger Mimic-Queen

Tiger Mimic-Queen

James L. Monroe

Lucky Hammock
Miami-Dade County, FL

Lucky Hammock is an area about 1/2 mile outside the main entrance to Everglades National Park.

  • Great Southern White 1
  • Barred Yellow 3
  • Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 1
  • Cassius Blue 8
  • Gulf Fritillary 3
  • Julia Heliconian 17
  • Zebra Heliconian 9
  • White Peacock 2
  • Queen 1
  • Long-tailed Skipper 5
  • Tropical Checkered-Skipper 6

Cassius Blue

Eric Whiteside

Key West, Little Hamaca Park
Monroe County, FL

  • Orange Sulphur common
  • Cloudless Sulphur common
  • Hammock Skipper common
  • Florida Duskywing rare
  • Three-spotted Skipper common
  • Southern Broken-Dash common

Three-spotted Skipper

Southern Broken-Dash

Hammock Skipper

Southern Broken-Dash

Amelia Grimm

No Name Key, National Key Deer Refuge
Monroe County, FL

  • Malachite 1

Malachite

Malachite