Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: skipper

A couple of months ago I was watering the tomatos on our back deck when I saw something flutter away and land on the wall. I could hardly believe my luck when I saw it was a pair of mating Silver-Spotted Skippers! I dashed downstairs for my camera and popped on the macro flash to make sure there was enough light. Happily, the skippers were still there when I returned and I was able to get lots of pictures! They are standing on a screen material we used to block the sun from cooking the tomato pots.

I got this picture a couple of weeks ago when I was taking pictures of the Tiger Moths I found one day. I'd posted a picture of a skipper just the day before so I thought I'd wait for a while before I posted this. From the Encyclopedia of Life: Skippers are small- to medium-sized insects, resembling butterflies or moths (they are more closely related to the former). They have hairy bodies that are short, stout, and rather dull-colored, while their wings consist of some pattern of brown, grey, or yellowish orange and black. Skippers have a fast, darting flight, and favor open, sunny areas. The caterpillars of most species feed on grasses or sedges in prairies or wetlands. However, the Silver-Spotted Skipper, feeds on members of the Bean family, including Locust trees, while the Common Sootywing feeds on various weedy plants, including Pigweeds, Amaranths, and Lamb's Quarters. Both of these species are larger than the other skippers. There are many species in this family, and they are important visitors to many prairie wildflowers, particularly during the summer or fall.

As I looked at this image, I suddenly said, "OHHHH!!! I GET IT!!!!" Now I understand why the stamens grow the way they do! They come out from behind the flower and arc up and over the flower. An insect will land on the front to sip nectar and the weight causes the stamens to bend forward and brush pollen onto the head of the insect!! INGENIUS!!!! I sat and observed this patch of flowers for a little while and could see that the most common visitor are these lovely orange skippers, which flit quickly from blossom to blossom. And now we can see that every time they visit another flower--hundreds of them every day!--they pass the pollen around to the other flowers! Isn't that fascinating?!! :D Just another reason I'm overjoyed to have this amazing camera and lens!

4 more pictures in notes above! This morning I decided to go right over to the Milkweed flowers, since I've been finding so many insects there to photograph. Wow, did I ever find insects! I was only out there for about 15 minutes and saw several types of bees, three kinds of wasps and hornets, two types of skippers and four different species of butterflies. There were lots of beetles too, and flies I'm sure were around. The thing that's surprising is that upon first inspection, nothing was there. But after standing still for a moment, the insects zoomed back in to carry on their business. Makes me wonder how many insects I would see if I spent several hours here! Of course, I can't do it. I am always extremely wary of burning myself out, if even just for one day. That kind of thing builds up and I can't risk it because this 365 project requires me to take new pictures every day. If I got sick of taking pictures, it would be a disaster! So I'll have to see about an extended photography session next year. Something to look forward to! As I watched to see what was visiting the flowers, I hoped that a certain wasp I'd seen in the past would come by. This wasp is huge--about 2" long and you can really hear these guys buzzing around. They are not something I'd want to tangle with, but I WOULD like pictures! And lucky me...after several failed attempts on other days, today I got lucky!! I managed to get some very nice pictures as the wasp moved around the flowers, and then it landed on a flower with a skipper on it. The second it detected the skipper, it moved over in a very aggressive manner. I was close enough to take pictures and darn it if they didn't come out!! When I got to the third picture, I whooped in delight, as I was hoping desperately that I caught the skipper as it flew away! HOORAY, I DID!!!! (You can see my two other pictures of the wasp and the skipper by rolling your mouse over the upper left of the picture) Thanks to Art (Leapfrog) , I now know that this is a Golden Digger Wasp (Sphex ichneumoneus) and a Woodland Skipper (Ochlodes sylvanoides)...you're the best!!! *hugs* Leonard Randolph "Lenny" Wilkens (born October 28, 1937) is a retired American basketball player and coach in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has been inducted three times into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, first in 1989 as a player, as a coach in 1998, and as part of the 1992 United States Olympic "Dream Team", for which he was an assistant coach. From the 1994–95 season until the 2009–10 season, Wilkens was the all-time winningest coach in NBA history and retired still holding the record at 1,332 victories. Wilkens is now second on the list behind Don Nelson. Wikipedia: Lenny Wilkens Explored on July 28, 2013. Highest placement: page 1 (#21).

6 pictures in notes above and 2 text note! :D Today I was thinking about milkweed flowers and what some of you said: that I might be able to find monarch butterfly eggs on the leaves. Well, I went to see but I didn't find any that look like monarch eggs, but I did find some other eggs! (See my third upload!) While I was looking at the flowers, I found this gorgeous skipper on a stem and also a beautiful wasp visiting the blossoms! Enjoy! Nathaniel Hawthorne (born Nathaniel Hathorne; July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. Wikipedia: Nathaniel Hawthorne Explored on July 23, 2013. Highest placement, page 1 (#26).

This image was taken on my property in Southern Oregon

I am running as fast as I can to get this baby in under the gate! It's 11:45 and Steve and I just got home from our dear friends, Elizabeth & Richard, who invited us to spend the afternoon immersing ourselves in photography around their incredibly beautiful property! We had such a wonderful time, and then spent the evening having dinner and wonderful conversation. It was such fun!! We got home just about 45 minutes ago, and I am STILL copying my 750 pictures over (:D) This beautiful skipper butterfly was my very first set of images and the third picture that I took! I'll look at the rest of my pictures tomorrow, but for now, I'm totally delighted with my first subject!! Hooray for cooperative skipper butterflies!! :D I found this wonderful page of Irish blessings, quotations, proverbs and toasts, which are just brimming with goodness! tacomaweekly.tripod.com/Irish-Quotations.html Note: This was the first day of Flickr's horrendous change and the beginning of the end for me over there.

On our property, I have seen about half a dozen types of butterflies and skippers, and the most common of all is this one. Next is the Common Ringlet , which is an off-white butterfly. The others, which are actually colorful and beautifully patterned...I rarely see or they flit around me laughing before flying away while tears stream down my face. To all of you reading this who are saying, "What's the problem?! There are LOTS of beautiful butterflies everywhere for ME!!" ...I would like to get into a pillow fight with you right now!! :D I shouldn't complain because this skipper IS pretty!! But I would love to see more COLORFUL butteflies please! :D :D The Propertius Duskywing is a type of butterfly called a skipper, which is in-between a butterfly and a moth. Skippers have stocky, hairy bodies like moths, and knobs at the end of their antennae like butterflies (unlike the lovely feather-like antennae of moths). When resting, they also tend to hold their wings differently, with the hind wings flat and the fore wings up over their body. However, this one is holding its wings moth-like; butterflies tend to hold their wings up over their body. This Duskywing is found in the Pacific Northwest from British Columbia to Baja, California; larval caterpillars eat oak leaves, and adults feed on flower nectar. If you would like to know more about Duskywings, Wiki has a list of links here: Wiki: Duskywing . For more information about Skippers, Wiki has a wonderful page here: Wiki: Skippers .

[best appreciated at full size against black] The other day I posted an image of a budding Miniature Lupine. Right after I took that picture, I noticed something moving just ahead of me in the grass. I didn't have to look closely, because this guy is a good 1" long and he was ga-lumphing along like a walrus out of water being chased by a land shark! He's so chubby I thought the earth would shake as he moved by! When I looked at my pictures on my computer, I couldn't believe it! This guy looks just like a Graboid from one of my all-time favorite movies, Tremors!! He even looks like he's exploding out of the ground! In fact, I would not be at all surprised if they didn't use a larvae like this as a model. I have absolutely NO IDEA what this will turn into, but it certainly didn't behave like a regular caterpillar. It didn't have feet except at the hind end, and I think those were just for hanging by when it makes its coccoon. I think it might be some kind of beetle larvae? Whatever it was, it was freakin' me out! :D Cool Trivia Fact: My husband worked on many of the miniature special effects for Tremors!! Yay Steve!! This image was taken in April, 2012.

I have been very busy with work lately so it's been tough to get out to take pictures, but yesterday the sun was out for a while and I simply HAD to go out and nose around! What fun I had! New flowers and buds everywhere, a picture of a mallard duck hanging out at our seasonal pond, and I went up to the ridge to check on the status of "The 26th Flower of Spring", which hadn't opened yet. It still hasn't but oh BOY!! It's going to be just a couple of days now and promises to be very special! On the way back down, I saw the flutter of a butterfly and stopped in my tracks, hoping it might land somewhere close enough for a picture. It flitted here and there and then, against all odds, it parked itself on a bunch of twigs where I could easily take its picture if I was careful! YES!!! So, using my Acme Patented "creep and click" method :D :D, I worked my way closer and closer, and lo and behold, I managed to fill the frame with this beautiful butterfly!! In fact, I'll have some extreme close-ups to show at a later date!! I'm beside myself with joy!!! YIPPEE!!! :D The Propertius Duskywing is a type of butterfly called a skipper, which is in-between a butterfly and a moth. Skippers have stocky, hairy bodies like moths, and knobs at the end of their antennae like butterflies (unlike the lovely feather-like antennae of moths). When resting, they also tend to hold their wings differently, with the hind wings flat and the fore wings up over their body. However, this one is holding its wings moth-like; butterflies tend to hold their wings up over their body. This Duskywing is found in the Pacific Northwest from British Columbia to Baja, California; larval caterpillars eat oak leaves, and adults feed on flower nectar. If you would like to know more about Duskywings, Wiki has a list of links here: Wiki: Duskywing . For more information about Skippers, Wiki has a wonderful page here: Wiki: Skippers . This image was taken in April, 2012. Explored on April 17, 2012.

Here are several pictures I took of various moths in the past few months. The top one has a really beautiful pattern and a very interesting pair of long antennae. It's only about 1/4" long, and its antennae are twice as long! Amazing! The second moth is about the same length and I found it drinking nectar from a Woodland Star blossom. The last pair of images show a Propertius Duskywing Skipper. The first is a close up portrait, the second shows the full body, originally posted back in April. (By the way, a skipper is inbetween a butterfly and a moth. Some are more like a butterfly, others are more like a moth. If you'd like to know more, click on the full body picture to read about the wonderful skipper!)