You have already seen a few shots from the National Butterfly Center in McAllen Texas. The site was formerly known as the North American Butterfly Association Gardens, and the main attraction is still the well developed plantings and paths just this side of the Rio Grande River, which attract a wide variety of butterflies, dragonflies, and damselflies…both species common to the US side of the river, and quite a few more tropical species that are only found in the US right at the boarder in South Texas. This is the place for Green Malecite, Mexican Blue, Guatemalan Cracker, and any number of exotic skippers.

I happened to be there the same morning as a group of really serious lepidopterist (who had come for the Guatemalan Cracker) and there is nothing like a large group really knowledgeable eyes to pull the butterflies out of the bush. I would have missed many of the best bugs there, if it had not been for the delighted cries of the real butterflyers.

For instance, this is the Blue-eyed Sailor, a common butterfly from Columbia north through Central America and Mexico. It is found in South Texas as a stray from across the river and there are a few records of it as a resident. It is still very rare in the US. Quite a find really. What you see here, depending on the resolution of your monitor or laptop, is likely over life sized. I am certainly thankful for more experienced eyes.

Canon SX50HS. Program with auto iContrast and Shadow Fill. 1800mm equivalent field of view. f6.5 @ 1/250 @ ISO 800. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness. 

It was interesting to see the advantage the long zoom on the Canon SX50HS gave me. I could shoot over the shoulders of photographers attempting to creep close enough for a shot with their macro lenses and get the same image scale, without any risk of scaring the Blue-eyed Sailor off.