Wildlife Watching Wednesday: The Silver-Spotted Skipper Butterfly

 By: Tom Berg

When it comes to butterflies that are fast “on-the-wing”, skippers are near always near the top of the list. These speedsters tend to fly in an erratic, darting motion that can really make a person dizzy if you try to follow them. Luckily, they stop often at a variety of flowers to feed and sip on nectar, and that’s when we can get a good look at them.

The wings of the silver-spotted skipper are dark brown, with rusty orange bars on their fore-wings (top and undersides). On the undersides of their hind wings they have a large and distinctive silvery white spot. This is how they got their name, and this spot is easily seen when they land on a flower or leaf since they usually have their wings closed when at rest.

Silver-spotted skippers are a small butterfly, but they are fairly large as skippers go with a total wingspan of about two inches. They can be found throughout most of the United States, although they are much more common from the Midwest and east all the way to the Atlantic coast. They are almost completely absent from western Texas and most of Nevada, but they do range down into northern Mexico and up into southern Canada.

Like many skipper species, the silver-spotted skipper can be seen in parks, along roadsides, forest edges and fields where wildflowers are growing. They are especially attracted to flowers that are pink, purple or red.  The flowers of thistle, clover, milkweed and anise hyssop are some of their favorites.

An interesting fact about the caterpillars of this small butterfly is they have some effective defensive tactics for preventing predators from eating them. The caterpillars can regurgitate a bitter-tasting fluid when threatened, and this often thwarts an imminent attack. Also, when these caterpillars eject their frass (droppings), they can expel it with enough force that it flies more than 30 body lengths away from them. This keeps any odors or chemical evidence of their presence farther away, thwarting predators like parasitic wasps and others.

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