Fiery Skipper (female)
Hylephila phyleus
September 30, 2012
 


  Last year, I photographed a male fiery skipper (Hylephila phyleus) for the first time. (It's supposed to be more common in the south than the north, in this case, Pennsylvania.) Today I had a great opportunity to photograph a female fiery.

My first view may not be the most common one (at least for ID purposes), but I like it.

 
Female fiery skipper, head on
 
  The female fiery skipper isn't quite as bright a yellow as the male, and the end of each antenna is dark, rather than yellow. Whatever, she's certainly pretty.
 
Female fiery skipper
 
  The fiery skipper was happy with the Utah daisies, and so I was able to take a very long series of photos of her.

The brown dots on the wings-up view is the easiest way to ID a fiery.

 
Female fiery skipper, wings up
 
  Again, as for size, I'd say about a thumbnail (in comparison to a least skipper, which would be a pinky nail). To make size a little easier, a medium-size bumblebee perched near a fiery skipper.

Photo note: I used the Pentax K20D, with the Voigtlander 125mm macro lens, on September 30, 2012.



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