(Will NABA’s President Dr. Jeffrey Glassberg snap the Outis Skipper? Read on to find out! Pictured above is a Confused Cloudywing on an indian paintbrush – ed)
Woke up this morning and the blue skies in my eyes encouraged smiles. By 9 am, when I got to the first spot in Lexington WMA the temperature was 60 degrees. And, in the sunshine, it felt good. Walking along the road, I saw many butterflies, including lots of cloudywings and anglewings. I looked closely at many of the cloudywings, because Outis Skipper is awfully similar – but no Outis.
At 10 am I drove to Bryan’s house and we went back out together, back to the same spot. More and more butterflies began flying. We saw Black and Pipevine Swallowtails, a Southern Dogface, a Silvery Checkerspot, loads of ladies and Red Admirals, Viceroys and Red-spotted Purples, Goatweed Leafwings and Northern Pearly-eyes, but no Outis Skippers.
Encouraged, we continued walking back and forth along the road. A little after 11 am, we both jumped as we saw a small dark spreadwing skipper dart from the underbrush. Landing near us – it was an Outis Skipper!! Finally. I grabbed some photos and then it flew again, but only a short distance away. It sat with its wings partially open, but stray bits of grass and twigs obscured the view. Then, it flew off, not to be seen again. I was elated!
In the afternoon, we drove around Lexington WMA and ending up seeing 43 species of butterflies – not bad. You can see the list at the NABA Recent Sightings page. The highlight of the afternoon was another Outis Skipper, this one nectaring at Green Milkweed.  Â
