North Virginia high summer

[Kip]

Back in the USA for a while.... already seen some wonderous things... my first ever Hackberry Emperors, a pristine Red Spotted Purple and a few marvelous Swallowtails.... a humid 30 degrees plus for the most part.... blissful...
Hackberry Emperor... quite small, no larger than a Meadow Brown!

Red Spotted Purple, (a mimic of the poisonous Pipevine Swallowtail)

Common Buckeye, much like our own Peacock..

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, including the black form of the female...

A brilliant fresh pale green 4cm long tailed summer form Zebra Swallowtail...

more to come I hope.

[Kip]

One or two more....

Pearl Crescent... only the size of a Small Heath!!

Northern Pearly Eye... woodland denizen, reminds me a lot of the European Woodland Brown, and just as tricky....

Red-banded Hairstreak, the size of a Small Blue!!

There are more Skippers around than anything else... later

[David M]

You're more mobile than a Monarch, Kip! Some stunning specimens there, especially the Northern Pearly Eye which I agree has a resemblance to Europe's Woodland Brown.

[Kip]

Ha ha... seems so!!! There are a few Monarchs around, but no photo opportunities yet.

Here's a few mixed Skippers without IDs.. all taken this week for those who may be interested to try... Virginia USA this week.

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[Kip]

14.42 local time today....

[NickHull]

Butterflies and eclipses! Have a sensational trip!

[Kip]

Thanks Nick

[David M]

I don't often truly envy people, but right now, Kip, you definitely fall into that category.

[Kip]

Well, it was a case of so near yet so far, as we were hundreds of miles from totality
( rather than "reality" which my wife thinks I am )

[celery]

Lovely stuff Kip!

I've spent a good few hours lolling under Hackberry trees in northern Florida in the hope of a seeing a Hackberry Emperor and its best chum Tawny Emperor - and all to no avail... so far. Much kudos to you

Skipper IDs:
As you are no doubt aware there are MANY, MANY skippers in the U.S. For ID purposes upper and lower wings are much preferable and HABITAT is CRUCIAL to seeing and ID-ing most of the rarer species. Here you've got a good selection of some of the least-fussy all-rounders - so I'm pretty confident with these IDs.
(I've indicated gender where the species is sexually dimorphic.)

1. Sachem (Female) Atalopedes campestris
2. Little Glassywing Pompeius verna
3. Fiery Skipper (Female) Hylephila phyleus
4. Sachem (Male) Atalopedes campestris
5. Horace's Duskywing Erynnis horatius
6. Little Glassywing (Male) Pompeius verna
7. Zabulon Skipper (Male) Poanes zabulon
8. Zabulon Skipper (Female) Poanes zabulon
9. Ocola Skipper Panoquina ocola

Hoping to see more...
cheers, celery

[Kip]

Appreciate that... I'll check my own IDs and report back later.
Guy?

[Padfield]

More Gems, Paul - even if your wife does think you are on a parallel track a few hundred miles off reality.

For clarification, I asked Paul if he had any tricky species to identify as I'm currently reviewing an ID guide to American butterflies and wanted to see how it measured up against some unknowns. Hence the string of skippers without names (and Paul's asking my opinion, when I'm hardly an expert on US butterflies)! For what it's worth, I came to exactly the same conclusions as celery, though doubtless in a much greater time and with less confidence. Equally, for what it's worth, I found myself referring to more than one book (I brought another US book home to compare with the new one) for confirmation in several cases. The closer you get to South America, the more the skippers explode into a vast, bewildering group! It was a useful exercise, so thanks, Paul.

Guy

[Kip]

excellent. I hope I will have more pics to come. Try this for central America...

https://www.facebook.com/Butterflies-of ... tion=group

[Kip]

Another first for me today.... Grey Hairstreak...

[Kip]

A few more Skippers... a variety of species, mainly sachem, swarm over any nectar giving flowers in their hundreds, you have to pick out the more unusual ones....
Tawny-edged Skipper

Clouded Skipper

Dun Skipper

The Grey Hairstreak sometimes sits with open wings... shame this is past it's best...

Delighted to find Sleepy Orange here, two different variations of the same, devilishly difficult to approach to photograph though..

[Kip]

Butterfly photography just got a bit more challenging

it's not made of rubber

only managed one new species for me since last post....

Pyrgus communis, the Common Checkered Skipper

[David M]

Truly dangerous animals are thankfully not a part of a UK butterflyer's list of concerns.

Other than alligators, were there any other potentially deadly creatures that had to be born in mind?

[Kip]

Ha ha... one or two!... a reserve yesterday warned of Cottonmouths, but I never saw (or heard) any. I suspect Rattlers are present in very small numbers in most wild places here... so always need to watch one's step!

Several new species for me today, in the Smoky Mountains, Tennessee, but these photos will have to do for now....
Variegated Fritillary...

Gulf Fritillary underside..

There may be a Long-tailed Skipper here..

[Kip]

Beautiful pristine Grey Hairstreak...

[Kip]

Rather worn Great Spangled Fritillary..