It's a gulf fritillary, probably a female, but possible a very faded male.

Sherry

Thanks, Sherry. Would a male be even brighter? I did see another flying around the cucumbers just now that looked more vibrant.

Do you know their host plants?

They use passionvines here for host plants. For me they use the corky-stemmed.

Yes, when gulf frits first emerge from their chrysalis, the males are bright orange/red, and the females are tawny orange and a little bigger. They both fade with age.

Here's a newly emerged male gulf frit, top side -

{{gwi:504107}}

And here's one's underside -

{{gwi:506958}}

Sherry

If by "drying his wings" you mean after recently emerging from the chrysalis, this is unlikely for such a faded and chippy butterfly.

There are of course other ways for butterflies to get wet wings, but it would be unusual.

Its quite possible that the wings were damaged, you can sort of see in the picture. I found it fluttering around on the ground and left it perched on a branch and it was gone within an hour. I guess it was either eaten or figured its wing situation out!