Roughly speaking, there are two groups of butterflies. The Papilionoidae, also known as scudders, and the Heperiidae, known commonly as skippers. No one uses the name scudders, but all insect watchers know what skippers are. These are the lesser butterflies. They tend to be smaller, less colorful and are built around stout bodies. If one is building a list of the butterflies he has seen, he definitely wants to identify the skippers; they count as species on the list. But if you are just sitting around browsing the field guide, it is unlikely that you will pick a skipper as your target species for your next adventure in the field.
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| Two Banded Checkered Skipper, May 2023 |
A month ago at Dougan Falls, we were watching the profusion of Echo Azures when I noticed a small butterfly, nectaring on dandelions, that I initially thought might be the female echo. It was reminiscent of Metalmark, but it was tiny. That evening it was identified as a Two Banded Checkered Skipper. So you see, like it or not, those skippers creep onto your list.
Recently we asked our mentor, Caitlin LaBar, about Klickitat Canyon, one of her favorite sites relatively close to Vancouver. She gave us instructions and we got all excited to go. And then, as we researched the butterflies we might see, we discovered that the specialties of the area were skippers. There were three species of skippers, the Propertius and Pacuvius Duskywings, and the Northern Cloudywings. Cloudywings, duskywings? Sounds downright gloomy, doesn't it? But by the time we had fully appreciated the skipper situation we were excited for a walk in Klickitat Canyon and the trip was on.
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| Pacuvius Duskywing, male Klickitat Canyon May 2023 |
The day we picked was cool and a strong wind was blowing in the gorge as we made our turn off Highway 14 at the Lyle trialhead. We had been directed to a portion of the trail roughly ten miles up the Klickitat and we enjoyed views of the rushing stream as we drove on an excellent road.
We disembarked a bit after 10 AM and, encumbered with a net, binocs and cameras, we headed down the Klickitat. This area is far enough east, that Garry Oaks are the mainstay of the riparian forest. It is far from coincidental that the duskywings require the oak leaf litter for "hibernal sites", and according to Bob Pyle, the range of the Propertious coincides almost exactly with that of Garry Oaks.
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| Propertius Duskywith female. nectaring. |
As many of you know I spent two and a half decades in Salem, Oregon, where Garry Oaks form the backbone of the forest. The official flower of Salem, however, is the poison oak. One Christmas, early in our tenure there, I contracted poison oak while cutting the family tree. It was an unforgettable experience and I became an expert at identifying this annoying shrub. But despite my caution, I managed to get poison oak a couple more times. Thusly indoctrinated, I was immediately cognizant of the lush growth of poison oak just off the trail.
Luckily, the skippers were all over the place and posed on rocks, flowers and in the leaf litter. So cooperative were these insects that it wasn't necessary to chase them into the forest. We got many pictures and Caitlin verified that we recorded both of these extremely similar species. When it came down to it, I found these duskywings to be rather attractive, in a conservative, subdued sort of way. As you will notice, there is considerable sexual dimorphism in the duskywings. The Norhthern Cloudywing, which we missed, is a seriously dull bug, described by Pyle and LaBar as "muddy dark brown".
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| Propertius Duskywing chilling in the oak leaf litter. |
As the morning progressed, we were graced with a myriad of tiger and anise swallowtails, numerous ochre ringlets, and a few Lorquin's Admirals. It was really quite delightful.
jeff
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| Sandra found an Oak Tent Caterpillar! |
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