Orange Skipper Butterflies on Purple Flowers

Skipper butterfly feeding on flowers
(Note the long proboscis sipping)  © SB 

Tiny skipper butterflies fed on wildflowers and rested in the grass beside Wascana Creek in Regina last week.

Skippers as a group are easy to identify because their furry bodies are so large in proportion to their wings, at least compared to many other butterflies.

They are also very small — overall, these butterflies are less than an inch long. They were tricky to snap pictures of because they rarely paused long as they skipped from blossom to blossom.

There are many different kinds of skippers, and I'm not really sure what kind sips from our Regina flowers. 

However, the dark rim and markings on their wings look like Delaware Skippers. (Here's their range map, and yes, it includes Saskatchewan.) Perhaps someone who knows will comment here. 

Skipper butterfly on a stalk of grass  © SB

Top view, Skipper butterfly   © SB

What are these?  Skipper butterflies on alfalfa or wild purple vetch. (Perhaps Delaware Skippers.) 

Location: Along Wascana Creek, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Photo date: July 5 and 6, 2012.  

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