In hindsight going for a long weekend to south-central Florida seems like it was a good decision in light of the current developments (Hurricane Matthew) occurring in the state now. Barry Marts, Mike Smith, Tom Pendleton and I drove over 2,100 miles in a four day period and visited a few of the late season skipper habitats in hopes of scoring a few lifers. It was also a great chance to reacquaint with some of the more southern species we don’t see in our region. We joined ten other lepsters led by Linda Cooper. One day was spent spent searching various habitats in Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park about 25 miles NW of Okeechobee and the other day was at Bull Creek WMA , about 25 miles west of Melbourne. Each site is maintained for successional growth species which benefit from prescribed burns. The areas reminded me very much of the Pine Barrens area in New Jersey.
We northerners all had target species. All but Neamathla Skipper (which I found out was photographed on the first day) was seen. On the way home on Monday we stopped for a few hours at Savannah NWR SE of Hardesville, SC and found a couple cinnamon colored Palatka Skippers which was a lifer for three of us. In all we tallied 56 species, of which 30 were skippers! Notables included: Palamedes Swallowtail, Orange-barred Sulphur, Barred Yellow, Little Yellow, Phaon Crescent, White Peacock, Georgia Satyr, Long-tailed Skipper, Dorantes Longtail, Confused Cloudywing, Zurucco Duskywing, Tropical Checkered-Skipper, Three-spotted Skipper, Southern Skipperling, Dotted Skipper, Meske’s Skipper, Whirlabout, Arogos Skipper, Aaron’s Skipper (in inland fresh water habitat), Palmetto Skipper, Palatka Skipper, Monk Skipper, (FL – Loammi) Dusted Skipper, Eufala Skipper, Twin-spot Skipper and Brazilian Skipper. Some images from the trip are shown below. It was a wonderful experience and worth every mile of the drive!
Click on any image below to enlarge
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