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August 26-September 1, 2012
Omaha, Nebraska
Backyard butterfly weekly list. Number indicates the number of days sighted. Names in bold represent new sightings for the year.
Butterflies:
Monarch(4)
Cabbage White(2)
Eastern Tailed-blue(2)
Painted Lady(1)
Gray Hairstreak(1)
Skippers:
Fiery(5)
Peck's(4)
Sachem(3)
Silver-spotted(1)
Common Sootywing(1)
Monarchs(Danaus plexippus) have become the dominant butterfly in the garden, stealing the title from the Painted Ladies(Vanessa cardui) which had held the it over the two previous weeks. Otherwise, butterfly numbers were low last week. I spent most of yesterday working on removing a large stump from the front yard, but I did manage to spot a Gray Hairstreak(Strymon melinus, left) and an Eastern Tailed-blue(Cupido comyntas, above the fold) along with the occasional Monarch.
The real story in the yard last week was the Skippers. At any given time there might be a dozen or more, flying between butterfly bushes, occasionally stopping at the marigolds in between. Fiery Skipper(Hylephila phyleis) seemed most common, but there were, of course, plenty of Sachems(Atalopedes campestris) and even food number of Peck's Skippers(Polites peckius) which is usually much less common. Recently, I've been noticing some unusual variants of Peck's Skipper. In the photo below(left) you can see the medial and marginal brown bands greatly reduced, leaving a mostly yellow Skipper. I've included a photo, taken last year, of a more typical Peck's Skipper(below,right) for comparison.
So, those are my butterflies for last week. What are you seeing in your area?