National Butterfly 🦋

Male hummingbirds can be quite the show-offs, but that's perfectly ok with Luciano, our staff photographer. He loves capturing images of Ruby-throated, Black-chinned, Rufous & Buff-bellied Hummingbirds flashing their iridescent throat colors when the light hits them just right.

In this Minute with Nature video, we're featuring a rarely seen Red Rim. This large satiny black butterfly is named after its red/pink squiggly hindwing sub-marginal band. The fact that it resembles a Hostess chocolate cupcake with red icing, makes it difficult to misidentify.

Texas Monthly turned to us for insight on this spectacular moth b/c It's that time of year, again! One can see them here nectaring on the native Texas Thistle & Rio Grande Mock Vervain, 2 annual "weeds" that the property & flourish along the canal. #LeaveTheLeaves #LetItGrow

If you're local & you're looking for a magical setting for your wedding, quinceanera or graduation photos, you should consider the National Butterfly Center. Whether you're a professional photographer or an amateur with a cell phone, call 956-583-5400 for pricing & details.

Here is the latest edition of our "Minute with Nature" video series. This one features a Zebra Heliconian female fluttering around a passion vine, most likely in preparation for egg laying.

ALERT!!! A gorgeous and rare Red Rim was just spotted in our Hackberry Trail by National Butterfly Center photographer Luciano. Here are some of his photos of this seldom seen beauty that has many rushing to the NBC in hopes of seeing it for themselves.

Here are 4 of the 72 butterfly species we've recorded at the National Butterfly Center so far this month. Included are an Evans' Skipper (photo by Lorna Graham), a Violet-banded Skipper, a Purple-washed Skipper and a Long-tailed Skipper. There's no telling what will show up next.

All signs are pointing to the National Butterfly Center for the 28th Annual Texas Butterfly Festival. There'll be guided field trips to private gardens & butterfly hot spots, educational activities, great food, making new friends & reuniting with old ones. TexasButterflyFestival.com

Looking for something to do over Spring Break? Why not do what the Canales/ Rios/Ruiz/Garza family from Mission did & visit the National Butterfly Center? In total, 17 members of their family visited us this afternoon & they all had a great time exploring our gardens & trails.

Mexican Bluewings tend to open their wings only while in flight or shortly after they've landed. However, yesterday morning's cool temperatures resulted in us seeing several open-winged Bluewings warming themselves up enough to fly. This made for these great photo ops.

A year after seeing our last Julia Heliconian, we've now seen several over the past few days. Here is a female & two males we spotted on the Spring Mistflowers growing alongside our palapa this morning. Also a Long-tailed Skipper which had not been recorded here since April '23.

@EarthsideManuf1 we understand. Hopefully the mint returns. We have to do the same delicate dance with the plants we want and don't want. It's never ending, but so important!

@NatButterflies I've tried that, it's murdered so many mints lol

It's time for spring cleaning--and that includes your yard. Let's get rid of the non-native plants & eliminate the "great American lawn," so that every landscape supports butterflies, bees, birds & vital wildlife. The time is NOW! #LetsGetGrowing

@EarthsideManuf1 Talk about one hat's hard to get away with! We pull the clumps up from the root. That doesn't eliminate all of the rhizomes or seed, so it may return. For this reason, plant something hearty that will cover and compete with it, each time you pull. Then repeat endlessly!

@NatButterflies Any tips for murdering crab grass? Asking for a friend.

Ten days into March, we've already recorded one more butterfly species than last March's total of 65. Also, we're now seeing butterflies we haven't seen in a year or longer. Photos courtesy of NBC member, and Texas Butterfly Festival guide, Cecil "Woody" Wingfield.

The Heliconians are back! It's been a year since a Julia Heliconian was seen in our gardens and 10 months sine a Zebra Heliconian was seen, but today we had both! While we did not get photos of the Zebra, we got photos of both Julias, one fresh and one worn. Both were female.

Migration ready? While the temperatures are climbing well into the 90s, the butterfly count is climbing, too. Just 6 full days into March & we’re at 59 species for the month—with lots of time & millions of blooms to go. Read more here: mailchi.mp/nationalbutter…

@mattlanza @Peacherina2 @weatherflow Thanks! We have loads of birds--some of them large, fast and powerful--plus the government is flying drones out here. Perhaps a drone did it?

@Peacherina2 @NatButterflies Bad data can certainly happen. I mean, I guess something flying by could do it! It does not appear to be legitimately meteorological in nature (McAllen Airport nearby didn’t report anything unusual). So, yeah, either random bad data or a bird passing by! @weatherflow

Any meteorologists out there? People with similar experiences? This morning our Tempest weather station clocked a single "wind gust" out of the blue at 54 MPH, triggering an alert. Was it buzzed by a hawk? A bat? What could have provoked this?

@McJinniayah We do wonder about that, too.

@NatButterflies Drone?

Next time you spot a bird dropping on a plant or bush, look closely. Why? Because it could very well be a caterpillar, a spider or a moth, such as this Exposed Bird Dropping Moth. Mimicry is just one of the ways bugs try to trick predators into leaving them alone.