La Grange, TX (3/19/00)

Mark Walker MWalker at gensym.com
Sun Mar 19 23:12:34 EST 2000


Well, I couldn't find the Chicken Ranch - so I decided to look for
butterflies instead.

Actually, I'm kidding about the Ranch.  I am very much happily married (but
never home much to enjoy it, I'm afraid).  Besides - who needs sex when
there are so many butterflies?

I'm kidding again.  Seriously kidding.  There is absolutely nothing wrong
with my libido.  How did we get on this subject, anyway?

So I had no idea where I was going.  All I knew was that I wanted to get out
from under the cloud cover that was feeling content to hang around the
Houston area.  I got a late start, and arrived along highway 71 at around
10:30 a.m.  It was gusty and cool.  Somewhere in the 60's F I believe.  I
was growing concerned that I wouldn't find much in the way of Leps.  Not
that a nice Sunday drive without butterflies wouldn't have been just as
enjoyable - NOT!

The first butterfly that I spotted was a Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta).
This was my cue to park.  I found a nice dirt road through some oak and
scrub habitat, and decided to give her a look (a nice looking dirt road
through juicy butterfly habitat is definitely a female gendered noun.  Well,
at least in my book).

I really, really gotta stop butterflying in short pants.  I do know better,
honestly - it's just that I'm so much more comfortable in shorts.  But the
brambles are not at all friendly to bare ankles.  And today, they were
particularly troublesome - grabbing my net at the most inopportune times
(like right before what would otherwise have been a perfect swing - uh huh).
A few times, they even grabbed a hold of my foot - tripping me and making me
look ungraceful.  It's quite embarrassing - with all those insects watching
and all.

Man, I gotta stop eating Jack-in-the-Box tacos.  Hey, 99c for two - it's a
butterfly hunters bargain!  But they seem to make me ramble aimlessly...

Bopping up and down along the road could be found the surprisingly beautiful
Megisto cymela (Little Wood Satyr).  I say surprisingly, because in flight
it's pretty inconspicuous.  The hindwing underside has a shiny metallic
scaling that can be almost blue.  A little farther in the woods I found the
equally stunning Cyllopsis gemma (Gemmed Satyr).  These can usually be
distinguished in flight from M. cymela by their lighter shade of brown.
Otherwise, they bop along in the same manner.  Later in the day, there were
an increasing number of Hermeuptychia hermes (Southern or Carolina Satyr).
Also similar in flight, these can be distinguished by their smaller size.

After about 11:00 a.m. the Falcate Orangetips (Anthocharis midea) started
flying.  They were non-existent, then suddenly everywhere - almost all males
and very fresh.  This is one of those butterflies that eludes you for years
- to the point that you wonder if you'll ever get to see it - only to
provide you with a later showing (in numbers) that leaves you speechless.
Today it was very common.

The highlight of the day were the Henry's Elfins (Callophrys henrici).  To
find them, I had to venture out of the woods and into the surrounding cow
pasture.  There were clumps of oak trees in the pasture that were inundated
with holly.  It was already past noon when I arrived here, but I wasn't
disappointed.  The little Elfin put on a nice little performance -
flickering about and perching on the hostplant and surrounding branches.  At
about 1:00 p.m. - they were gone. 

In the same area I saw Fixenia favonius (Southern Hairstreak).  I only saw
two of these, and then they were gone also.

I found a skipper that sure looks like Cymaenes odilia (at least from the
descriptions I have).  It's a dark brown skipper with four tightly rowed
white spots on the forewing apex, and has three contrasting purplish patches
on the hindwing below.  I'm sure I was far north of C. odilia's range.  Any
ideas?

Other highlights included a mating pair of Papilio glaucus (Eastern Tiger
Swallowtail) - the female of the dark form (this is as close to the Chicken
Ranch as I can get).  There were many of these swallowtails flying high
above the canopy, coming down for an occasional tease.  

Here's my list:

Battus philenor (Pipevine Swallowtail)
Papilio glaucus (Tiger Swallowtail)
Pieris rapae (Cabbage White)
Anthocharis midea (Falcate Orangetip)
Fixenia favonius (Southern Hairstreak)
Callophrys henrici (Henry's Elfin)
Hemiargus isola (Reakirt's Blue)
Euptoieta claudia (Variegated Fritillary)
Phyciodes phaon (Phaon Crescentspot)
Polygonia interrogationis (Question Mark)
Vanessa virginiensis (American Painted Lady)
Vanessa atalanta (Red Admiral)
Junonia coenia (Buckeye)
Danaus plexippus (Monarch)
Megisto cymela (Little Wood Satyr)
Cyllopsis gemma (Gemmed Satyr)
Hermeuptychia hermes (Southern Satyr)
Erynnis juvenalis (Juvenal's Duskywing - I think)
Pyrgus communis (Checkered Skipper)
Cymaenes odilia (Fawn-spotted Skipper) ??
one small unidentified brown grass skipper

Mark Walker.


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