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This is probably one you have seen, found in most of the Eastern and Southern U.S. all the way south to Argentina, the Fiery Skipper, Hylephila phyleus (my gallery link). Like many butterflies, the top and folded wings views are different and distinct. Here’s a shot from the Caribe of both views, and of course the one with a bee in it made me smile! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
These 6 photos of 6 species were made on April 18 & 20, processed a week later and being ahead on my blog posts, they just now make it to you! 🙂 I was really photographing a lot during the weeks before my Arenal trip and now my photos and thus blog posts are sort of backed up. But I will catch up and maybe slow down a little or be more selective in which photos I share. Sorry, but I want to share all of them! 🙂 I will put these 6 butterflies in a little gallery below this one introductory shot.
I decided to just go ahead and show all 7 of these from one morning’s brief garden walk, since I’m still staying 2 weeks or more ahead on my blog posts! 🙂 And I may eventually get those last 3 identified, but for now I’ll safely say they are Skippers! 🙂
Because I’m choosing IDs for a website now I am even more cautious or unsure of my identifications now and still don’t have an expert to run it by. But this seems to be the closest match out of around a dozen orange and brown Skipper butterflies in my book, A Swift Guide to Butterflies of Mexico and Central America, which I still depend on mostly. The website I’m volunteering for as Costa Rica Coordinator has so many different photos of this species that it makes it even more confusing, but as one of the most frequently cited species in this color I’m probably safe. 🙂 Size: about as big as my thumb.
Here’s my five totally different views of this orangey butterfly from two different days in my garden that I hope I have labeled correctly . . .