It’s hard to the miss seeing the multitudes of butterflies all over the place here in South Central Texas in the last few days. Unfortunately it’s even harder to miss them getting squashed on your car’s windshield. These small orange, brown and black butterflies are named for their long nose and migrate through the New Braunfels area this time most years.
These butterflies are not as predictable in their migration as the Monarch butterflies which will be headed our way later in the fall…late October or early November headed to Michoacán Mexico. The Snout Nose (Libytheana careninta) is attracted to the availability of its host plant the native Hackberry (Celtis laevigata). This year’s abundant rainfall has given rise to a proliferation of many local flora and fauna and certainly the Hackberry has benefited.
I found many of the Snout Nose happily feeding on another of my favorite fall blooming native plants the Kidneywood (Eysenhardtia texana). These sweet scented bloomers have benefited from all the recent rains as well and have been given a chance to really shine this season. This small, multi-trunked tree has numerous spikes of small white flowers that you can often smell before even seeing the plant.
To find out more about the Snout Nosed Butterfly check out the recent article on Texas Public Radio. And don’t forget to keep an eye out for the next big Butterfly migration coming our way in the fall…the Monarch!