One of Glassberg's team?! Wow, that's cool! I would love to be there myself, but since that can't be, I'm happy seeing it all thru your camera!
A productive day butterflying :o)
That would be a great vacation spot. You are lucky to be so close you can go there so often.
Yes, the NABA Park and Bentsen State Park are about a mile apart and those two areas get the majority of the rarities. We get lots of scientistics/butterfly book authors throughout the year too...Jeff Glassberg of course...along with Jim Brock, David Wagner, John & Gloria Tveten, Phil Schappert, Paul Opler, Mike Overton, Mike Quinn, Ro Wauer, Kim Garwood, David Lehman, Bob Behrstock and many others which I am sorry to have forgotten to mention but have led tours, taught seminars and provided guidance with their expertise.
They are all a great bunch of leps and some of them have fantastic personalities!!! Brock has a great sense of humor and Wagner will have you rolling on the ground with laughter!!!
There are numerous butterfly/birding centers in the larger cities that border the Rio Grande. Off hand, I think about eight fairly popular ones within an hour's drive that starts in the city of Mission and goes through the cities of Pharr, Weslaco, Harlingen and Brownsville.
I still whine a bit because the NABA Park is 22 miles from where I live. When it's peak butterfly season I usually take advantage of going there before or after my shift because it's only 10 miles from where I work. Just depends on what hours I'm working and what the weather is like.
There is also a wildlife refuge/butterfly park 4 miles from where I work...but it's always infested with chiggers!
...and I live only 5 miles from another butterfly/birding center that gets mass quantities of butterflies but nothing rare because it is a bit too far north from the Rio Grande River and there is no fresh water running through it. It has a lake built around it and some smaller ponds throughout it but no 'gate way' from Mexico. They have lots of nectaring plants but very few larval hosts. It is also more of a birding center that caters to water fowl...and well, birds eat butterflies :o(
Here's a male Black Witch moth that was on back porch ceiling a couple of nights ago. It always freaks me out when he camera flash makes their eyes show up red!!!
ps...forgot to mention...the butterfly parks are out in the open. There are no walls or cages...all the butterflies you see are flying around in the wild. That's why it's hard to photograph some of them...they are either flitting around from plant to plant or they mock us by flying around to the other side of the bush or way up in a tree!
Fantastic photos!! You are fortunate to have this talent!! Also, you are VERY fortunate to live that close to the parks. 22 miles in our part of California isn't a great distance. The photos have inspired me to check out the LA Arboreteum across the street from the Santa Anita Racetrack. It is about 40 miles from here and I haven't been to it for 20 years or so. I will check right now to make sure it is open this Sunday.
Thanks again for sharing,
Chuck
:o) Yeah, 22 miles isn't much when I think of the time I lived in California and Memphis, TN and had to deal with the long commute through rush hour traffic to get to work.
My folks live only 50 miles away from me and I do go out there on Saturday or Sunday to visit and get some butterflying in too....that's a nice scenic drive out in the boonies :o)
But then again...when I think of how it takes me about eleven hours to hit the Northern, Eastern or Western border of Texas from where I live...I cringe!!! Yet, Mexico is ony 15 miles away! and I can walk about 100 yards from where I work and step into Mexico! HA! HA!
I would frame the one of the 3 together! All are very pretty!