I’ve added two more butterfly species to this season’s tally.
A Fiery Skipper was visiting my backyard zinnias last week:
This tiny butterfly has a wingspan of only 1 to 1.5 inches. Fiery Skippers are common in the southern United States but can be found in the northern U.S. in summer until there’s a frost.
They lay their eggs on grasses, and the adults live for about a month and feed on flower nectar.
I spotted this skipper on a hike, but it wouldn’t slow down long enough to snap a decent photo. This is a Peck’s Skipper:
These butterflies live in the northern United States and Canada. The can be found in backyards and parks, along roadsides and in fields. The adult butterflies have two broods during the summer.
The adults feed on milkweed, sunflowers, clover and even butterfly bushes.
Both caterpillars and chrysalis overwinter. The larvae feed on Kentucky Bluegrass (lawn turf), and the caterpillars create leaf shelters near the ground, but it’s low enough to avoid lawn mowers!