Edinburg Wetlands Last Walk

Edinburg's Annual Plant Sale and Butterfly Walk was in full swing on Saturday,  March 22nd.  We said our good byes to Javi and Monica until next year. They both were very friendly, helpful and knowledgeable as was Marisa the director and Loni. It was not too birdy, actually only saw a dozen birds total bur bumped into Mike Rikkard again. Missed the Green Kingfisher but it was seen earlier.

              Vesta Crescent 
  (female - dot on forewing)

Gulf Fritillary 

                                                                             Pipevine Swallowtail

                                                                                                                                               Queen 

 

                                                        Red Admiral 

Smiley girl dressed for the occassion. 

Last Butterfly Walk at Estero

It was not the greatest day for butterflying but it was the last Friday and 1:30 so off to Estero I went.  Dave and May lead the walk and Dave came later. The best butterfly was the Mazon's Scallopwing in the Tropic Area across from the park volunteer area. This butterfly was not very cooperative but finally sat for one good shot. This was the first of the new season for this Scallopwing. We took our customary road trip on the tram to see Pygmy Blue and were lucky to see blooming cactus. How lovely! I just wish I could remember their names.

                                                    Mazon's Scallopwing

 

                     Gulf Fritillary

    Vesta Crescent                      

  

                                             Pearl Crescent

   Tropical White Laying Eggs                                                                                                              (black spots on grass)

 Fawn-spotted Skipper

      MOTH ALERT - Yellow Geometric
     (best we could ID no Moth-ers today

                                                                      







                               Celia Wayside Skipper

                                    Road Trip with Dave and May on the Tram

Eastern Screech Owl

                    White-striped Longtail      

                                          Western Pygmy Blue (smallest butterfly in North America)

         Dave Elders from Quetico Provincial Park in Canada 
(He wore shorts & sandals everyday! Closest shopping Duluth or Mpls)
Dave is a naturalist who has incredible knowledge of plant life. 

The cactus blooming were lovely, 
but I do not recall the names of them. 

NABA Buddies, Butterflies, & Bensten Birds

The afternoon was pleasant but the butterflies were scarce until the sun came out. Martin, Chris, and Mike were twitching for Chris's ID of a rare skipper. It was fun to be apart of the nerdy group. Gunnar came and joined them for an hour. Yes, we were butterfly nerds for the day. Martin came back to Santa Ana angry or frustrated since he did not find the twitching target skipper. Hope to see you all next year. Be safe.

       

Martin is the most remarkable spotter  of butterflies I have ever seen.  He was trying to help me take a photo of a Florida White Butterfly. They would land 15 feet off the ground in a tree and fly off staying high.  We would run from one area to another to  try to get close enough. It must have been an hour. Finally when Gunnar arrived, one landed low enough for a few seconds and Gunnar got a nice photo. 

                             Mike the who lives close came to help Martin and Chris.

Gunnar and Chris checking out a photo of a skipper. 

Gunnar had wonderful photos of butterflies. Here is a LINK to it.

Florida White, rare and evasive  Thanks Gunnar and Martin.

                     Common Mellana                         (grass skipper)

Clouded Skipper (one of the darkest in TX)

                                    Phaon Crescent

                                     Texas Cresent

 Funereal Duskywing  (Skipper)

                                                               Painted Lady

Golden-fronted Woodpecker

 Altimara Oriole

Clay-colored Thrush ( alias Clay-colored Robin)

 Black Phoebe at Bensten State Park

Photographer taking a photo of the Black Phoebe. 

One of my favorite artsy photos of Gunnar. 

Cotton or Wood Rat (cute but not cuddly)

Hooded Mergansers on Fountain Lake

Spring must be just around the bend. I spotted Hooded Mergansers in the small patches of open water near our home. When we arrived a week ago we saw hundreds of Canada Geese in the air. A few large brilliantly colored American Robins beat us to Southern Minnesota.  We are awaiting the song of the White-throated Sparrows. The male put on quite a display for his seemingly unimpressed partner. They will survive tomorrows snow as they did last year, but let's just cancel the snow and go right into spring.