Observation of the Week: August 12- 18, 2023

For the 15th OOTW, we have chosen this Peck’s Skipper as our OOTW!

Here’s what Kevin (@solartempest), the observer, commented about this observation:
“I found the Peck's Skipper at the Riverwood Conservancy, which is a lovely set of gardens and woodlands in Mississauga. Very cute butterfly.
I really love photography and combining that with my love for butterflies and insects has become a favourite pastime! It's been a real adventure on iNaturalist in being able to keep track of the diversity of local creatures that I am now finding throughout the year. Capturing them beautifully in natural habitats is my overall goal.”

We can certainly tell that Kevin has a keen eye for photography. I love when a photo is crisp like this one, so much detail, you can see the hairs on the butterfly’s legs.

We’re likely to see the Peck’s Skipper move up in our most observed list soon, as this is one of the best months of the year to spot them. These skippers are not only the most abundant native skippers we see in Ontario, but they also have two generations in this part of Ontario, one in April and the other in August.
The reason Peck’s Skippers are so abundant is also due in part to their habitats. They mainly live in urban areas with open grassy spaces like meadows, lawns, gardens, marshes, woodland edges and less traditionally beautiful habitats like landfills, roadsides, vacant lots and power line right of ways.

This skipper isn’t too similar in appearance to many other skippers seen in the watershed, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to distinguish. The Tawny-edged Skipper is similar from above but lacks a band of spots on the hindwing. Earlier in the season, you may also confuse the Peck’s Skipper with the Hobomok Skipper due to the yellow patch on the back of the butterfly’s body – the Peck’s extends further than the one on the Hobomoks.

Photos: Peck’s Skipper with band on hindwing (left) and Tawny-edged Skipper missing the band on hindwing (right).

Contest Alert!
Don’t forget to submit your Butterfly Blitz Bingo Challenge entry!
If you’ve ever played Bingo, you already know what to do. Use your iNaturalist observations to complete one of the rows on the Bingo card below. You may already have all the observations you need for a row, or maybe you just need one more … check it out! This Peck’s Skipper observation would go well on squares B1 or N4 of the August BINGO sheet, what do you think?
The challenge will run from July 1 to September 13! Here is how to participate:

1. Enroll in the 2023 Butterfly Blitz.
2. Join the 2023 Butterfly Blitz project on iNaturalist.
3. Complete a Butterfly Blitz Bingo row, column, or diagonal line and fill out this form (https://www.cvc.ca/ButterflyBingoForm) to be entered into a draw to win an Individual Credit Valley Annual Parks Pass. Complete Contest Rules.

Happy butterflying,
Kristen and the Butterfly Blitz team

Posted on August 23, 2023 01:15 PM by kristenvalencia