South Texas stuff

[Chris J. Durden]

Bill,
    In Texas, especially in South Texas, it is not the place but the time. 
Almost anything occurs in Texas sooner or later (I have yet to see an 
*Oeneis* but they are only about 100 miles away) but you have to be there 
when it is. The chances of this are slim. To be a good collector in Texas 
you have to be a gambler, patient to wait out the long dry spells, then 
clean up when the good stuff shows up.
    The key is water. The Rio Grande no longer spills into the sea, it is 
closed by a bar at the mouth, although you can find some good things 
sometimes behind Playa Washington which is the only part of Mexico you can 
walk to (without a bridge and customs) East of El Paso. Study the county 
rainfall records (available from NOAA). There are mean rainfall peaks 
recorded over the las 60 years. Even though the actual rainfall rarely 
comes at these times natural selection has seen to it that our butterflies 
are genetically programmed to appear at these times. Try just after the 
peak historical rainfall for your county of interest, when the larval 
foodplants are putting out fresh leaves. That is when you will find the 
butterfly fauna, after a run of average years. Most counties are slightly 
different so work on the details. Be prepared to try the same place at the 
same time year after year and you may strike it rich. More and more wild 
habitat is being created as non collectable wildlife reserves. Tropical 
fauna wanders in all the time (when there is enough water). Look for these 
wanderers in vacant lots and along irrigation ditches anywhere in The 
Valley and you may be rewarded.
....................Chris Durden

At 07:54 PM 1/7/2002 +0000, you wrote:
>OK folks, your holding out on me.  Someone must know the good butterfly/moth
>hot COLLECTING spots in south Texas!?  I,ve got a little info from local
>Arizona guys but would like to see a few different people respond so I  can
>make a semi-intelligent choice on places and times.  Dig deep fellow 
>leppers!
>Thanks   Bill in Tucson
>.
>
>



 
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