The butterflies are busting out down here in The Valley, and the Mission Butterfly Festival is going on.  It’s hard to turn attention from those lovely flutterbies, but I promised an ode post.

Odes…odonates…dragonflies and damselflies.  They’re sort of the frontier among nature IDers – whether hobbyist or scientist.  And like our birds and butterflies, The Valley boasts many unique species.  In fact, new U.S. records are ticked off often.

Raise your binos, and really LOOK at one of these critters.  Pretty eye-popping:

When you’re at the RGVBF, there’s always something winged to look at.

There’s still some good airfares.  Both Southwest and Continental fly into Harlingen, via Houston.  If you’re coming from MN/WI area, Sun Country starts their charter service Nov 1 – always a good non-stop choice out of Minneapolis.