Took a trip to southeast West Virginia and nearby Virginia in search of the ‘Appalachian’ Grizzled Skipper (Pyrgus centaureae wyandot). As many of you know this butterfly is an Appalachian Mountain habitat specialist that requires shale barren habitats with abundant exposed crumbly rock or soil. Over the past thirty years the population has crashed and is endangered in many of the eastern mountain states where is was once thriving. Canada Cinquefoil (Potentilla canadensis) is its primary larval host plant. Spraying for Gypsy Moth in the mountains during the late 1980’s and into the 1990’s caused this butterfly to disappear in many locations. Fortunately for us the state of Virginia has made and is continuing efforts to help this butterfly bounce back by mitigating the use of spraying and maximizing its habitat within some sensitive shale barren regions of the state. Until my good friend Mike Smith invited me an a few others to a known population location a couple of years ago I really didn’t think I’d ever have a chance to see this butterfly. My hope now is that other eastern mountain states are following suit.
Other FOYs for the day were: Meadow Fritillary, Silver-spotted Skipper, Pearl Crescent and Eastern Tailed-Blue.
