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.