Flutter of COLOR

Mark the season a new way. Here's how: Visit South Texas, America's butterfly capital.

Autumn is in full flight across the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Here, a cloud of queen butterflies whirls upward like orange confetti. Nearby, a red-bordered pixie poses on a vine, spreading its jaunty, scarlet-marked wings. Hordes of fiery skippers, each no bigger than a thumbnail, zip from flower to flower. The air itself pulses with energy and color.

Birders have long praised this area as one of the country's prime birding spots. Only recently have people begun to realize that it harbors a treasure of butterflies as well. Thanks to its temperate weather, plentiful sunshine, and strategic location, the Valley claims more than 300 of the approximately 720 species found in the United States.

Enthusiastic locals and visitors describe their passion for butterflies as a disease. "We're 'lepers,' " quips Buck Cooper, playing off Lepidoptera, the order of insects that includes butterflies and moths. Every October, Buck and his wife, Linda, travel to the Valley from their Haines City, Florida, home to witness the natural riches.

Residents such as Jan and David Dauphin use native plants to turn their yards into butterfly habitats. "We've seen more species in our yard than most states have on their species list," declares David, whose property in Mission vibrates with bright, beating wings.

Cognizant of the Valley's unique ecological gifts, the North American Butterfly Association (NABA) has opened the first phase of its International Butterfly Park on 100 acres of donated land near Mission. The park's native gardens have already logged upwards of 150 species of butterflies.

Other organizations, too, support the effort. The World Birding Center at the Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park has planted for butterflies. During the heat of the day, nature lovers amble around the modern center to view the Valley's most gorgeous inhabitants up close. Frontera Audubon, a preserve in Weslaco, and Quinta Mazatlan, a city-owned site in McAllen, both yield good sightings as well.

One day last October, a handful of folks set out for an informal butterfly tour led by Texas Master Naturalist Gil Quintanilla. They stopped by a couple of private yards, then visited NABA's park and the nearby World Birding Center. The day's final tally numbered 61 species seen, and that was without trying hard. The real reward of butterflying, though, comes from more than statistics. "Butterflying is a passion," says Gil as he gazes toward a tangle of dancing butterflies. "It really is fuel for the soul, mind, and imagination."

Copyright Southern Progress Corporation Oct 2006
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