I shot these photos last Thursday evening. We'd been noticing these large sulphurs flying through our gardens. I finally got some pictures. I wasn't sure on the species so I checked in with the experts at Bugguide.net. These are large orange sulphurs (Phoebis agarithe)! Which is a new species for us. Cool!
I'm not certain which skipper this one was (above photo). But I loved how I caught the curled-up proboscis.
For the past week or so, we've had millions of butterflies flying through Central Texas. Silly me last Thursday tried to nab a sample butterfly with a net on the street in front of our house. (James got a video.) No luck. I happened to look down and spot a dead one. Yep, an American snout nose (Libytheana carinenta), as I suspected, on their way south (except ours in the neighborhood were flying west to east down Ninth Street). News reports confirmed the species.
2 comments:
Perhaps the skipper is a Fiery Skipper (Hylephila phyleus).
I bet you're right. I've observed that species before here (http://sherylsmithrodgers.blogspot.com/2010/11/late-this-afternoon-i-went-outside-to.html). Thank you!!
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