Saturday 11 June 2011

Bugs and stuff

I broke out of my usual birding/herping routine today and delved into something totally different - butterflies. I find that looking for butterflies is a lot like birding - they fly (obviously), they each are found in specific microhabitats, some migrate long distances, etc. So Dan Riley and I headed out to Ojibway prairie for a few hours this evening. Some highlights:

This is some sort of Duskywing - our best guess is Dreamy Duskywing.


The majority of the butterflies we found were skippers - European, Least, and Hobomok. I think that this is a Hobomok:


The regular birds were present, including Field Sparrows, Baltimore and Orchard Orioles, Eastern Towhees, etc. We found a few Bluebirds and heard a Pheasant as well. No cuckoos this time.

While walking through the field, we stumbled upon this Baltimore Checkerspot. It didn't take long to locate about 10 more - maybe it will be a good year for a flight of them.


What the hell is this skipper?


This Northern Crescent was looking pretty worn already.


And finally, a Silver-spotted Skipper before the rain came down. Not a bad hour of butterflying by a couple of idiots.


4 comments:

Blake A. Mann said...

Looks like a Dreamy.
That skipper appears to be a female Hobomok! I rarely see the females.

dwaynejava said...

Josh, I dropped by the Ojibway Prarie and found a few Baltimore Checkerspots today. Thanks for the heads up... thats a lifer for me. Great photos!

Brandon Holden said...

I agree with female Hobomok Skipper! I think the "dark form" females are rare (but regular?) and can go by the name of "Pocahontas" Skipper

Really enjoying the blog!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the IDs and complements, guys. Butterflies aren't my strong point! Working in tallgrass prairie all day everyday sure can be fun...