Woodland Skipper, Ochlodes Sylvanoides

Day 318: Never one to pass up a good thing, I headed back over to the new boat ramp at the east end of Riffe Lake today to see if the butterflies were out and about again. They had been numerous three days ago, but three days is a long time in the life of these ephemeral winged creatures. As I walked down the concrete ramp, only a few rose at my feet, but when I reached the bottom and the edge of the water, the Woodland Skippers were simply thick in the air. There were hundreds of them!

The Woodland Skipper is a little thing with a wingspan of an inch or less. They have a peculiar morphology in that the forewings are held at a 45-degree angle to the horizontal hindwings like some strange type of experimental aircraft. Their bodies are stocky, and their antennae seem short by comparison with other butterflies.

Skippers such as these are very common in western Washington, both in urban and rural areas. They are most active in late summer and early autumn, as evidenced today at the boat ramp.