Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Skippers


You've probably seen them, and like me perhaps thought of them as miniature butterflies. In reality, these tiny winged creatures looking like butterflies are known as Skippers, apparently not true butterflies. They are very small and their bodies seem to appear proportion -ally larger to their wings than a butterfly's does and they have an angular appearance to them. Note the body size on this skipper pictured above appears to be quite large in the first two photos. This is an Arctic Skipper. A couple of other skippers I have photographed and identified this spring are as follows; first a Peck's Skipper and lastly a Northern Cloudywing.
There is a wide variety of Skippers out there and it is fun to try to identify them, although it is not always easy. I shall be posting others as the spring and summer progresses. The field guide I use as a reference source is: Butterflies through Binoculars The East A Field Guide To The Butterflies of Eastern North America, by Jeffrey Glassberg, Oxford University Press, 1999

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautiful Skipper photos - I love the last two with both Skipper and flower. Very pretty post!

Mary said...

Beautiful photos of all of them! I'm still trying to sort out dragonflies and damselflies and now I have to figure out Skippers vs. Butterflies??? My brain is going to explode :-) I like their large furry bodies and such a lot of wing variations. That last one stands out lovely on that flower.

Sandpiper (Lin) said...

These are beautiful! I'm only now starting to see butterflies. They seem very late to me.

Anonymous said...

Lovely photos! I don't see many butterflies around these parts. I used to see so many as a kid. I'm going to plant some different flowers and see if maybe I can change that.

Becky said...

Great post on the Skippers. I have only seen a few Butterflies in our area so far. It's been pretty windy and the ones I have seen are really on the move.

me ann my camera said...

april:
There are quite a few beautiful ones to be found and I especially enjoy them if they are on a pretty blossom when I take their picture.

mary:
I thought of you when I posted these, wondering if you had been introduced to skippers yet! Isn't it amazing what a wonderful world of discovery there is to be found.

sandpiper:
I think its the cold weather that we have had previously that has influenced their appearances a bit.

2sweetnsaxy:
I have a lot of Coneflowers in my garden and butterflies seem to love those once they come into bloom. Thank you for your visit.

island:
Their small size would immediately suggest that they are skippers, tho of course there are small butterflies too.

becky and gary:
Hopefully you will have many in your area soon for butterflies and skippers are such a beautiful part of summer!

Gwen Buchanan said...

these are just delightful!!!

me ann my camera said...

gwen:
Your alphabet book is beautiful!