Jesse H Jones Park 6/8/09

Jesse H Jones Park, located just north of Houston's Intercontinental Airport, has some really nice butterfly habitat.


In the trip last month, I saw the following:

Palamedes Swallowtail
Spicebush Swallowtail
Pipevine Swallowtail
Red Banded Hairstreak
Gray Hairstreak
Pearl Crescent
Texas Crescent
Gulf Fritillary
Little Yellow
Orange Sulphur
Carolina Satyr
Funereal Duskywing
Horace's Duskywing
Common Checkered-Skipper
Little Glassywing?
Fiery Skipper
Southern Broken-Dash?

On a previous visit in 2008, I saw a White-Striped Long-Tail!

Click for Shots

Funeral Duskywing Erynnis funeralis


Southern Broken Dash Wallengrenia otho? I'm open to correction on this ID.


Common Checked-Skipper Pyrgus communis


This individual demonstrates the blue sheen that sometimes makes these seem like Blues in flight.


Texas Crescent Phyciodes texana

This individual had marked out a 40-ft swath of forest path as his territory. I found him pacing back and forth, lighting and puddling at times.


Gray Hairstreak Strymon melinus
Everywhere I go, there's a Gray Hairstreak! These butterflies are more ubiquitous than even the Cabbage White.


Little Glassywing Pompeius verna?

Frankly, I'm not happy with this ID. The antennae lack the white band behind the club that we use as a field mark here in MD. And the grizzled appearance inside the median is not like any P. verna I see here. However, it's a reasonably close match, and my memory of the topside matches P. verna best. So that's my story for now, until someone corrects me.

JRC