Lower Rio Grande Valley

Pictures from a Butterfly trip to South Texas - November 13-20, 2013

Two years and two weeks after our last visit to the area, my friend Rebecca and I took another fabulous trip to the Lower Rio Grande Valley in south Texas in search of some good butterflies. From our base at the Alamo Inn B&B, we took day trips to a number of good sites, including Loma Alta Lake, Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park, Edinburg Scenic Wetlands, Frontera Audubon Center, Estero Llano Grande State Park, Resaca de la Palma State Park, Boca Chica, the Hidalgo Pump House, with multiple visits to the National Butterfly Center of the North American Butterfly Association (NABA). Although the trip started on a cold and blustery day, the weather overall was pretty good for the rest of the trip and we ended up with more than 90 butterfly species, about a third of which were new for me.

The following pages show some of the pictures from the trip. This first page has pictures of some of the other interesting creatures we saw on the trip, including some of the local bird specialties, one of which was the Amazon Kingfisher on only its second US visit that we got to see almost immediately at the site. Butterfly pictures are on the next 3 pages. Page 2 has the Swallowtails (Papilionidae), Whites and Sulphurs (Pieridae), Hairstreaks and Blues (Lycaenidae), and Metalmarks (Riodinidae); Page 3 the Brushfoots (Nymphalidae); and Page 4 the Skippers (Hesperiidae).

Click on any of the thumbnails to view a larger version in a separate window.

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Dragonflies

Red Saddlebags
(Tramea onusta)

Common Green Darner
(Anax junius)

Roseate Skimmer
(Orthemis ferruginea)

Dragonfly
 

Dragonfly
 

Dragonfly
 

Dragonfly
 

Dragonfly
 


Katydid
 

Mantis
 

Mantis
 

Texas Unicorn Mantis
(Phyllovates chlorophaea)

Texas Unicorn Mantis
(Phyllovates chlorophaea)

Lynx Spider (Oxyopidae sp.)
with Sicklewing Skipper

Bold Jumping Spider
(Phidippus audax)

Bold Jumping Spider
(Phidippus audax)

Black Witch Moth
(Ascalapha odorata)

Moth
 

Io Moth Caterpillar
(Automeris io)

Caterpillar
 

Titan Sphinx Moth
(Aellopos titan)

Bugs

Beetle

Bees

Crab

Indigo Snake

Lizard

Birds

Amazon Kingfisher

Amazon Kingfisher

Altamira Oriole

Green Jay

Green Jay

Long-billed Thrasher

Long-billed Thrasher

Golden-fronted Woodpecker

Golden-fronted Woodpecker

Chachalaca

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Great Kiskadee

Inca Dove

American White Pelican

American White Pelican

Long-billed Curlew

Long-billed Curlew
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