[ON Butterflies] Zabulon Skippers at Ojibway Prairie, Windsor

[Bill Lamond]

Hello,

Bob Curry and I visited the above site on Friday 24 May, specifically to look for Zabulon Skippers. We saw three individuals. One extremely fresh female, one worn male and another male that was somewhat fresh. We saw many Hobomok Skippers (one female pocahontas form). Most of the Hobomoks were very fresh which Indicated that they had emerged quite recently, unlike the Zabulon Skippers which have been on the wing for upwards of 10 days. Thus it appears that Zabulon Skippers do emerge about a week earlier than Hobomok Skippers despite their obvious close kinship. 

Bob and I have heard others say that Zabulons have really "migrated" in this year which is difficult to refute. However, we think it is more likely that this species has extended its range and become resident in the Windsor area and that most, if not all of the Zabulon Skippers in Essex this spring, have emerged locally. This is impossible to prove but the freshness of the female that we saw last Friday indicated it had just emerged and had not travelled far.

Speaking of this female, we were both struck by how stunning this female appeared despite how it is portrayed in field guides. Perhaps this was due to the freshness of the specimen. The pale whitish areas on the under hindwing had an obvious lilac colour to them and the white line along the hindwing costa was quite striking - a unique pattern. I think we both felt the female was more attractive than the male. 

We also visited Brunet Park in Windsor but did not observe anything too noteworthy.

Butterflies checklists for both sites were uploaded to eButterfly. All of the photos above were taken by Bob Curry.

Bill