Butterflies at Brazos Bend on Pilant Slough Trail

I went to Brazos Bend State Park yesterday which is less than an hours drive from Houston and next door to Sugarland. Wow! It was just wonderful. I only went on three trails, so I have lots of park to discover yet. Anyway, there were lots of butterflies on the Pilant Slough Trail, so I thought I'd start a thread to share them. Most were Satyrs. In fact, there were so many Satyrs flitting across the trail that I was afraid that I would step on one!

I'll start with what I believe is a Pearl Crescent. Please correct me if I've made a mistake in the ID. I'm new at this butterfly thing.

A Northern Hairstreak?

There were lots of these Carolina Satyrs.

I believe this is a Viceroy.

The next three pics are not that great, but I'm very interested to find out if you think they are Black Swallowtails since I don't think I've seen those before. They were mating in flight over a field. When I first saw them I thought it was a Polydamas mating with a Pipevine since one was black with yellow spots on top and one clearly had blue on top and was also black. That's why I think it might be the Black Swallowtail. They come in both color right?

This picture is really awful, but again, I'm hoping it will help with ID.

The last of the Black Swallowtail(?) pics.

A Gemmed Satyr.

This pic is not very good either. This big butterfly was way out in a field. I didn't want to leave the path b/c that's just not good for our forests! There are also warnings all over about stepping on alligator nests and the consequences thereof! I used a lot of zoom and I have trouble with holding it still.

Anyway, I think this is the underside of a Spicebush Swallowtail.

This was his topside taken from further down the trail, so an even worse picture. Too bad b/c he was gorgeous.

I think this is my last butterfly. I'm not sure what it is. It looks like the Pearl Crescent but it has that blue spot on its body that is very clear in all the pictures. Maybe it's just an injury? Also it was more of a brown and orange than a black and orange, and the orange coloring was much brighter/lighter.

The other real treat happened as it was getting dark. I was in a bit of a panic realizing that it was almost dark b/c there were alligators everywhere, but I had to stop and watch the fireflies! Yes fireflies! I haven't seen any since I was a kid. I didn't get any pics of the fireflies, but here is one of an alligator that was floating in the green stuff just beyond the Viceroy shown above.

My butterfly book says the sexes of the Black ST are "dissimilar; female has reduced yellow postmedian band and increased blue hindwing scaling above". So I would say that's probably what you saw. They don't quite look like the other STs.

I don't know about that blue mark on your crescent, but it reminded me of a photo I took last week at MOSI. This Gulf Frit has a "spot" in about the same place, although his is more gray than blue. It makes me wonder what that is.

Sounds like you had fun! Thanks for all the pictures. I think sometimes the smaller, non-swallowtail butterflies don't get enough attention so I'm glad to see quite a few of them represented here.

Melanie

Awesome photos!!! WOOHOO!!!! Loved 'em all!!! Thanks for sharing!!! I'll have to keep Brazos Bend in mind when I visit H'town.

~ Cat

That is so cool....I was there with my family yesterday as well! It was our first time and I absolutely loved it! We had a great time watching all the alligators, it is mating season and we got to see one of the males bellering right in front of us! I am surprised you saw so many butterflies, it was cloudy and rained a bit while we were there so not many fluttering around. But the birds were everywhere, as were the gators. Below is one of my favorite pics from the trip. This particular one gave us a bit of a start when he started coming towards shore.

:) Kim

Kim, that's an excellent alligator shot! It was a dark day, but so nice and cool. The sun came out while I was there, but I have one pic where it looks very dark indeed! I only saw the butterflies on the Pilant Slough trail. Once I got to the lakes, I didn't see them or at least notice them. You kind of forget butterflies when surrounded by alligators and all the fabulous birds!

Cat, thanks and you should try to see it! I was blown away by the big ancient trees, the wildflowers, the alligators, the birds.

Melanie, I love that gulf fritillary shot. I think you're right that my crescent had a bald spot. Also, I loved the little butterflies, but didn't get very many shots of them even though they were all over the place b/c they wouldn't stand still long enough to let me focus! They're going to have to ham it up if they want to get as much attention as the swallowtails!