Skippers are the toughest of the butterflies to identify. Similar to the birding world where that unknown bird gets put into a lot called “LBB” (little brown bird”), with butterflies we have our own LBBs, and they are the skippers.
Identifying them is so rewarding though because it makes you really look at their markings, pick up on subtle cues, watch their behavior, and put together the clues. They have great names, too, like “Dreamy” and “Sleepy” and “Long Dash”.
Mona Miller emailed me a great website that helps with Skipper Identification so I wanted to share that here with you in case you’d like to try your hand at Skipper identification: Skipper Butterflies I bet you have some in your garden!
Today is our 14th Annual Loudoun Butterfly Count and in a couple of hours over 70 of us will be heading to our team meeting spots and starting off the great count. We’ll no doubt encounter our share of skippers throughout the day.
Either tonight when I get home or tomorrow I’ll start posting some photos and news from our count day. In the meantime, wish us luck!