The Stuff of Legends

To quote the Kaufman Field Guide to Butterflies of North America, "In Texas and Arizona, massive flights of huge numbers [of American Snout butterflies] are legendary but unpredictable." One of these massive flights is currently in progress here in Bexar and surrounding counties to the point where they have become the topic of local news stories and numerous Facebook posts.

The American Snout is another butterfly whose larval host plant is Hackberry (Celtis sp.). The adults are attracted to the nectar of a wide variety of flowers. Also, American Snout especially like the juice of ripe Texas Persimmon fruit. The one pictured here is on a Goldeneye (Viguiera dentata) flower:

This set of photographs was taken on the Yanaguana Nature Trail at Mission San Juan in the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park on Thursday, October 17, 2013.