Dukes’ Skipper, Creole Pearly-eye – SE Virginia

The season is starting to wind down but there are still species on the wing and a few still to come this fall. Barry Marts and I ventured to southeast Virgina to visit Virginia Beach and then finish up at the Great Dismal Swamp. Time is never on your side on a long day trip but the rewards almost always exceed your expectations. Our primary targets for the trip were Dukes’ Skipper and Creole Pearly-eye. And even though we succeeded in finding those species we were given big time bonuses with great looks at a couple of Great Purple Hairstreaks, a large stunning speices primarily found the the southern U.S and for us found on the eastern shore of Maryland, SE Virginia and the coastal plain of North Carolina. The other bonus was great looks (depending on your point of view) of two Water Moccosins. This was a first for both of us. There are times when having a long lens has its advantages(:>

After the stop in Virginia Beach it was on to the Great Dismal Swamp shared by Virginia and North Carolina but is mostly in Virginia. The refuge consists of over 112,000 acres of forested wetlands. Lake Drummond, a 3,100-acre natural lake is located in the heart of the swamp. The lake is one of only two natural lakes in Virginia. The butterfly field guides give you clues based on phenotypical characterics of a species but there are other clues that are just as important in identification, namely location and time of year. Is the species your looking for flying right now? Is it expected in the area your going too? There are three Pearly-eyes in North America. If you look at the field guide range maps they indicate that Northern Peraly-eye would pretty much not be expected at all in SE Virgina. This leaves us with Creole Pearly-eye and Southern Pearly-eye as the possibilities. Among the differences to separate these two speices Southern antenna clubs are all orange while Creoles would be black with an orange tip. You can compare the photos presented below.

I encourage you all to get out during the remaining portion of the season and perhaps you’ll find a surprise or two in the next couple of months.

Click on any image below to enlarge