{"id":8495,"date":"2021-08-04T14:46:20","date_gmt":"2021-08-04T18:46:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/?p=8495"},"modified":"2021-08-03T20:49:17","modified_gmt":"2021-08-04T00:49:17","slug":"mystery-skipper-mississauga-on-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/mystery-skipper-mississauga-on-canada\/","title":{"rendered":"A New Skipper at Jack Darling But Does Anyone Know What Kind It Is?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In late July I went to Jack Darling Memorial Park in Mississauga hoping to see a butterfly or two that I have never knowingly observed. The previous year, a report had been made around the same time of an Acadian Hairstreak and of a Broad-winged Skipper. To my excitement, I did find a new-to-me butterfly on my visit. The only problem is, I’m still not sure what kind it was!<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

What is This Plain Skipper with the Long Pale Streak Along the Wing?<\/h2>\n

When I first saw the mystery Skipper it was startled into flight by an aggressive Silver-spotted Skipper. As it landed, I tried to focus on it. My first impression was that it was “longer” than the Peck’s and Northern Broken-dash Skippers I see most often. As the camera focused, I noticed a pale line or streak along the length of the wings. To me, that meant I was looking at a Broad-winged Skipper, the same type reported nearby last year.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

Gleefully, I took a few hundred photos. I knew the bright sunshine was glaring. So I tried various exposure corrections and f-stops.<\/p>\n

The butterfly skipped over to other purple coneflowers every few minutes. It stubbornly, ok probably just happily, kept its wings tightly closed 99.9% of the time except when in its way-too-fast to photo short flights. I kept trying to get photos of the upper sides of the wings because it is much easier to id butterflies<\/strong><\/a> if you can see both the upper and undersides of the wings.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

I even switched memory cards and took a dozen photos on another card, in case I lost or corrupted the first card.<\/p>\n

Of course, I was melting as I stood in the noon day sun in ‘heat alert’ humidity. So eventually I thought it was safe to leave. There could be no doubt in my mind or anyone else’s that I had seen a Broad-winged Skipper.<\/p>\n

Or could there?<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

Playing the Jigsaw Puzzle Butterfly Spot Matching Game Again<\/h2>\n

When I sorted through my photos on the big computer screen at home, doubt set in. My skipper definitely had a pale line down the side. But at some angles, it had two.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

I also did have about 6 photos where the Skipper held its wings slightly open. I could see pale dots inside.<\/p>\n

What did they best match….?<\/p>\n

Broad-winged Skipper or Dion Skipper? Or a Very Worn Every Day Skipper?<\/h2>\n

Dion Skippers also have a pale stripe. In fact they have two pale stripes. And they have pale dots inside.<\/p>\n

All Skippers can lose scales which leaves them with uncoloured areas. Were these really pale streaks, or just wear marks? They were on both sides which was some what encouraging.<\/p>\n

Ack!<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

Both Broad-winged and Dion eat sedges. There are sedges near where I took the photos, along a small creek between Jack Darling park and private property.<\/p>\n

Both Broad-winged and Dion had been seen in flight within the Credit River watershed within the last two weeks.<\/p>\n

Letting the Experts Take a Look at a Mystery Butterfly<\/h2>\n

Eventually I gave up. Instinct tells me it’s a Broad-winged given one was seen here last year. Hope tells me it’s a Dion which would be a first for the location at least recently. Common sense reminds me that it might be a common skipper with some wear that I am mistaking for something else.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

I posted my observation as a plain old Skipper Species on e-Butterfly.org confident an expert would soon tell me it was blindingly obvious that it was a Type B or Type D.<\/p>\n

And they just approved it as Unknown!<\/p>\n

Argh!<\/p>\n

Same Time, Next Year ?<\/h2>\n

I hope that in time, someone will commit to an id. In the meantime, I know I saw SOMETHING different, even if I’m not quite sure what to call it.<\/p>\n

And I enjoyed the opportunity to watch this Skipper going about its every day life: I know it likes Echinacea but was not very interested in Bergamot, that it is not easily intimidated into moving by pushy bees, that it takes off like a spring and folds wings almost instantly when landing, and that its progeny might come back next year to allow me another look.<\/p>\n

If the weather permits, which I doubt, I may get back to the Prairie Demonstration Garden to try for another look. [Update: I did. No sign of it.] But my Skipper was already showing wear so even a few days from now, it and its kin may be gone. And there is never any guarantee that a nectaring skipper will be at the same spot later: Unlike where it wants to lay its eggs, nectaring spots are not a high priority for most butterflies.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

On the bright side, the Skipper knows exactly what kind it is and will no doubt hunt for a partner and try to produce more Skippers. So it doesn’t really matter what name I place on it, this butterfly already knows what it plans to do.<\/p>\n

Related Reading<\/strong><\/p>\n