One of 17 seen. Feeding on Camphorweed (Heterotheca subaxillaris).
One of 17 seen. Feeding on the flower of its host plant, Sleepy Morning (Waltheria indica).
With Don Fraser and Clint Gibson; seeing what was around. Clint concentrated on some of his study bees. Around noon, Clint visited another spot while Don and I stayed put mostly. We drove a bit north from our first stop, but we walked around so much that I am combining both stops into this single circle. The weather at the start was sunny and 65 degrees ("feels like" 65) with light winds (under 10 MPH). Don left at 1350 and Clint and I searched another spot afterward.
With Don Fraser and Clint Gibson; seeing what was around. Clint concentrated on some of his study bees. Around noon, Clint visited another spot while Don and I stayed put mostly. We drove a bit north from our first stop, but we walked around so much that I am combining both stops into this single circle. The weather at the start was sunny and 65 degrees ("feels like" 65) with light winds (under 10 MPH). Don left at 1350 and Clint and I searched another spot afterward.
With Don Fraser and Clint Gibson; seeing what was around. Clint concentrated on some of his study bees. Around noon, Clint visited another spot while Don and I stayed put mostly. We drove a bit north from our first stop, but we walked around so much that I am combining both stops into this single circle. The weather at the start was sunny and 65 degrees ("feels like" 65) with light winds (under 10 MPH). Don left at 1350 and Clint and I searched another spot afterward.
With Don Fraser and Clint Gibson; seeing what was around. Clint concentrated on some of his study bees. Around noon, Clint visited another spot while Don and I stayed put mostly. We drove a bit north from our first stop, but we walked around so much that I am combining both stops into this single circle. The weather at the start was sunny and 65 degrees ("feels like" 65) with light winds (under 10 MPH). Don left at 1350 and Clint and I searched another spot afterward.
A trip targeting Duke's Skipper (that eluded us) with Clint Gibson and John Lampkin (in one vehicle) and Don Fraser and me (in a second vehicle).
We drove Cumpressco Grade from County Road 471, stopping at a large (Joe) Bidens patch near Ranch Road, then walked into a swamp along Ranch Road. We exited at 1701.
The weather was sunny, horribly humid, and 94 degrees ("feels like 103), with mostly calm winds.
With Don Fraser and Linda Cooper; my first "real" skipper trip. Man, it was rough out there; the weather was sunny and humid with calm winds, 93 degrees but "feels like" 103. Birders know to get out of the sun after about 0930, but butterfliers seek the sun at this time and spend the next few hours in the sun. But it was fun, with several lifers -- even though I still can't identify 90% of what I'm looking at, non-birdwise.
I ended up photographing 33 skippers, 8 swallowtails, 6 dusky wings/cloudy wings, 6 wasps, 4 grasshoppers, 3 hairstreaks, 2 lynx spiders, and several other insects.
Almost everything was nectaring on Rattlesnake Master a crazy English name for a plant!, which is growing abundant along the road (until the mowers move in).
My camera -- which impressed me today -- is a Panasonic Lumix FZ80 digital bridge camera (up to 60x zoom).
Many IDs were suggested by iNat's AI.