This year has ushered in the most exciting butterfly season in many a long year. Enjoy these fine visitors to our Portal home!
Very rare here, California Patches have appeared in several yards and canyons around Portal this September.
Great Southern Whites, normally resident in Florida and along the Gulf Coast, also staged an irruption. Check out the bluish antennae clubs!
For years, retired herpetologist Dick Zweifel censused butterflies in the Chiricahua Mountains. He once found a Florida White here in September––a species which normally lives in extreme southern Florida and along the Gulf Coast––but did not record Great Southern Whites. So this year’s guest in Portal yards is rare indeed.
Other butterflies pictured here are to be expected, but many residents occurred in large numbers this year. One flight of American Snouts past our home numbered in the thousands! Snouts can be nearly invisible, unless they land on a garden fence.
Sulphurs were abundant. Tailed Oranges sport both summer and winter forms.
Blues were abundant this spring; a few still linger.
Variegated Fritillaries also appeared in good numbers.
Skippers seemed less abundant in the yard than in some years, but Checkered Skippers could be counted on. This individual shows at least some markings of Desert Checkered Skipper, but in other ways resembles the very close Common Checkered Skipper. Help! If anyone feels assured about the ID, please let me know!
Late monsoon season is a great time to find rarities, and it isn’t over yet!