West Virginia Butterflies

Gary Felton sent me this nice image of the fairly common Least Skipper. This tiny butterfly (wingspan on ether side of and inch) has a fluttery flight and never seems to be in too much of a hurry. Flies in three broods over the course of the season.

Yep, a Monarch flew through the yard today. It was not the only “first of year” species for me however. I was in a yard near Harper’s Ferry today hoping to see and photograph a Giant Swallowtail that was seen yesterday. No luck on the swallowtail but there is always some kind of consolation prize. Today it was a FOY American Snout. Among the 20 species seen there today here are a couple of shots. In the first shot, when I first saw this “frosted” skipper I was hoping for a Clouded or Dusted but it turned out to be a very fresh female Zabulon Skipper. The second shot is of one of the more common hairstreaks in our area; Gray Hairstreak. Finally, I know there are some NABA counts coming up (Loudoun County, VA tomorrow). If you participate in any this year I hope you see many, many leps.

I’m seeing more and more real worn skippers now so all bets are off(:> However, there are still some fresh ones to be had and within the last week I’ve seen a couple more of the more common ones; Crossline and Tawny-edged. In. At first glance they can look somewhat similar and of course your lighting helps to see details too. Crossline Skipper has the rather straight’ish row of spots on it’s post median area of the ventral hind wing. Tawny-edged Skipper will have nothing to perhaps a faint hint of spots. Crossline can have an orange fore-wing costa (leading edge) but the Tawny-edged will have more contrast.

The last two months have paid off in seeing many of the expected common to uncommon skippers that typically occur in this area. Perhaps a handful more for the season can be expected (the Cloudywings, Clouded, Fiery, Leonard’s and Common Roadside). Any others would be rare.

Enjoy this peak time of season and we look forward to any reports you have from the field.