100 More Species #11 Grass skipper

[urbpan]

Grass skipper, quite possibly Peck's (or "yellow-spotted") skipper Polites peckius.

Skippers are small, big-eyed butterflies named for their rapid flight. This one obliged me by holding nice and still for a long time so that I could photograph it. Grass skippers are probably very common in the suburbs because we grow so much of their host plants: grasses. Even closely mowed lawns can provide habitat for the caterpillars, so imagine how productive our ragged and neglected back yard is!