Silver-spotted Skipper

Here's 1 of our largest skipper butterflies, a Silver-spotted Skipper [1]. For impressive-name purposes, you should pretend that the large white spot is actually silver. At least this 1 has its wings up; with the wings down the best you could name it is a Silver-freckled Skipper (maybe).

I've talked about some butterflies that don't especially like nectar and thus don't visit flowers very often (including recently) [2]. Silver-spotted Skippers actually do like nectar but like many pollinators they're kind of picky eaters. Silver-spotted Skippers and most butterflies aren't big fans of yellow flowers, generally preferring a nice red or purple flower instead. (FWIW bees are frequently big fans of yellow flowers.)

Since many related flowers have different colors, and since nectar is mostly just sugary water, I'm assuming that some animals have simply come to associate certain colors with food, and thus visit those colors more often. I'm skeptical that there are specific nutritional benefits to nectar from a particularly colored flower.

May 25, 2023 at Duke Farms
Photo 292816796, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

[1] I'm damning with faint praise; skippers tend to be on the small side.

[2] And I've posted about other skippers even more recently.

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