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Posts Tagged ‘Epargyreus clarus’

Silver-spotted Skipper in May

Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on May 21, 2022| 2 Comments »

Although I enjoy photographing large, colorful butterflies, like the Zebra Swallowtail that I featured in a recent posting, I also love to photograph smaller, more nondescript butterflies. I spotted this pretty little Silver-spotted Skipper (Epargyreus clarus) during a visit to Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge and chased it about as it gathered nectar from several early spring wildflowers.

There are over 3500 species of skipper butterflies worldwide, according to Wikipedia, and the Silver-spotted Skipper is one of the few that I can reliably identify. Many of the others that I see are so similar in appearance that I have to pore over identification guides to try to figure out what kind they are. Often I end up guessing and am wrong just about as often as I am right in identifying a skipper.

Silver-spotted Skipper

Silver-spotted Skipper

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Butterflies and milkweed

Posted in Butterflies, Flowers, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on June 16, 2021| 12 Comments »

I was delighted on Monday to see that Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) is now flowering at Huntley Meadows Park, a local marshland refuge. Butterflies really seem to like all varieties of milkweed and I was thrilled to photograph several different species that were feeding on these fabulous flowers, including a Spicebush Swallowtail(Papilio troilus) in the first image; an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) in the second image; and in the final image, a Silver-spotted Skipper (Epargyreus clarus), a smaller skipper that I cannot identify, and a bee.

Spicebush Swallowtail

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Silver-spotted Skipper

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Silver-spotted Skipper in May

Posted in Butterflies, Macro Photography, Nature, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on May 18, 2021| 6 Comments »

Yesterday I spotted this beautiful little Silver-spotted Skipper butterfly (Epargyreus clarus) while I was wandering about at Occoquan Regional Park. There are more than 3500 species of skippers worldwide, but fortunately this one is pretty easy to identify. Many of the other skippers in our area are similar in appearance, with only slight differences in the patterns on their wings.

When I was doing a little research on this species, I came across this curious comment on the Butterflies and Moths of North America website, “The Silver-spotted Skipper almost never visits yellow flowers but favors blue, red, pink, purple, and sometimes white and cream-colored ones.” I am not sure whether the fact that this butterfly species has a color preference surprises me more or the fact that some scientist obviously studied and catalogued its behavior.

Silver-spotted Skipper

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Skipper and buttonbush

Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , on August 24, 2020| 37 Comments »

Over the years I have gradually learned which plants tend to attract butterflies and Buttonbushes (Cephalanthus occidentalis) are one of my favorites.  The plant’s spiky spherical flowers are quite distinctive and make a nice compositional element in a photo. I used to mentally associate these flowers with medieval weapons, but nowadays when people see one, they can’t help but think of the well-publicized structure of the Covid-19 virus.

Last week I spotted this Silver-spotted Skipper (Epargyreus clarus) nectaring on a buttonbush flower at Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge. I was hoping that one of the Monarchs that were fluttering by would also stop to sip at one of these photogenic flowers, but the Monarchs seemed to prefer the taste of the swamp milkweed flowers.

Silver-spotted Skipper

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Silver-spotted Skipper in June

Posted in Butterflies, Flowers, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on June 25, 2020| 14 Comments »

Out of the more than 3500 species of skipper butterflies worldwide, there is only one that I can reliably identify, the Silver-spotted Skipper (Epargyreus clarus). I spotted this little beauty on Monday during a brief visit to Green Spring Gardens with my friend and photography mentor Cindy Dyer.

Silver-spotted Skipper

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Silver-spotted Skipper in April

Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on April 25, 2017| 1 Comment »

Out of the more than 3500 different species of skipper butterflies worldwide, according to Wikipedia, there is really only one that I can reliably identify—the Silver-spotted Skipper (Epargyreus clarus). I spotted this beautiful little butterfly this past weekend at Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge. The skipper was so intent on feeding that it let me get pretty close to it. As a result, this image is one of the rare cases when I didn’t feel a need or desire to crop at all. I am not very good at plant identification, but I really like the tiny flowers of the plant in this image.

Silver-spotted Skipper

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Dramatic lighting

Posted in Butterflies, Flowers, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , , on June 21, 2016| 12 Comments »

The light falling on this Silver-spotted Skipper butterfly (Epargyreus clarus) yesterday was beautiful and dramatic at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, Maryland. I was focusing on the butterfly with my camera set for spot metering and I think that setting was largely responsible for creating the dark, underexposed background.

I was going to crop the image, but decided that I like the composition as it came out of the camera. My normal impulse is to zoom in or crop the shot so that my subject fills a larger part of the frame, but in this case I really like the large amount of negative space.

This shot reminds me a bit of a studio shot, the kind that would have required a number of carefully placed lights to create the same dramatic effect, not to mention a cooperative butterfly. Taking advantage of the natural lighting required a whole lot less effort. “More drama and less effort”—I like the sound of that as an approach to photography, which often seems so complicated.

Silver-spotted Skipper

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Silver-spotted Skipper and Purple Milkweed

Posted in Butterflies, Flowers, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , , , , on June 16, 2016| 1 Comment »

Purple Milkweed (Asclepias purpurascens) is in bloom in multiple locations at Huntley Meadows Park and the butterflies are loving it, including this Silver-spotted Skipper (Epargyreus clarus) that I spotted this past Monday.
Generally I have trouble identifying little skipper butterflies and Wikipedia notes that there are more than 3500 species of skippers worldwide.  The Silver-spotted Skipper, though, is pretty easy to identify, given its distinctive colors and markings.
There are several species of milkweed in my favorite marshland park and I have noticed more Purple Milkweed this year than in the past. This is really good news, because Purple Milkweed is considered to S2 (“imperiled”) in the Commonwealth of Virginia, according to the 2016 plant list of the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation.
Silver-spotted Skipper

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Silver-spotted Skipper in June

Posted in Butterflies, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , , on June 14, 2015| 2 Comments »

A Silver-spotted Skipper butterfly (Epargyreus clarus) kept returning to these purple flowers yesterday at the edge of a small pond at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, Maryland. I am not sure what kind of flower this is, but the Silver-spotted Skipper, the only skipper that I can reliably identify, really seemed to like it.

Some of my fellow photographers with whom I traveled to the gardens really enjoy photographing flowers—I seem to have reached a point at which I enjoy shooting flowers primarily as a beautiful backdrop for showcasing insects.

There are a lot of gardens in the Washington D.C. area that provide for wonderful photographic opportunities, many of which, like this one, have no admission fee. Although I really enjoy shooting at the marshland park that I feature here so often, it’s nice to venture out a little for a bit of variety.

Silver-spotted Skipper

Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Silver-spotted Skipper butterfly

Posted in Butterflies, Flowers, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Summer, tagged , , , , , , , on August 9, 2014| 4 Comments »

Can you name the most recognized Skipper butterfly in North America?  According to Wikipedia, it’s the Silver-spotted Skipper butterfly (Epargyreus clarus), like this one that I photographed recently at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, Maryland.

I have been seeing a lot of skippers this month and many of them look so much alike that it is difficult for me to identify them  The Silver-spotted Skipper’s colors may be a little drab, but I am happy that it is easy to identify it, which makes me happy, given that there are over 3500 different species of skippers worldwide, according to a separate article in Wikipedia.

silver_blogsilver3_blog

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Silver-spotted Skipper

Posted in Butterflies, Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , , , on July 18, 2013| 7 Comments »

Can you name the most recognized Skipper in North America?  According to Wikipedia, it’s the Silver-spotted Skipper butterfly (Epargyreus clarus), shown here clinging to a Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) in a shot I took recently at my local marshland park.

I love the spiky look of the Buttonbush and it seems to attract a lot of butterflies. The skipper’s colors may be a little drab, but I am happy that it is easy to identify, given that there are over 3500 different species of skippers, according to a different article in Wikipedia.

spotted_skipper_blog

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Skipper and friends

Posted in Bugs, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , on August 16, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Almost everywhere that I have seen flowers the last few weeks I have seen skippers. One of the few varieties that I can identify is the Silver-spotted Skipper butterfly (Epargyreus clarus) which I feature in my first photo.

Silver-spotted Skipper

Many of the other skippers, however, look almost the same to me. Wikipedia says that there are more 3500 recognized species of skippers, so I don’t feel too bad about my identification difficulties. Here’s a photo of one of the 3499 non-Silver-spotted Skippers on a sunflower.

Unidentified skipper on a sunflower

This must be the season for the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus), because I see them almost everywhere too. I’ve posted lots of photos of swallowtails recently, but I figure that the bright color of the swallowtails will complement the more muted tones of the skippers. Besides, the different lighting and angles of the shots makes them very different photos for me, even when the subject is the same.

Male Eastern Tiger Swallowtail against the sky

Looking downward at a female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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