Fiery skipper

About the Fiery skipper

A small, fast-flying orange skipper of lawns and gardens, the Fiery Skipper is a favorite of anyone who watches butterflies close to home. The male is bright orange with jagged dark margins; the female is darker and more checkered. Both have the short, hooked antennae and stout body typical of skippers, and they perch in the distinctive half-open, jet-plane pose.

Fiery Skippers zip from flower to flower on sunny days, sipping nectar, while their caterpillars feed on grasses - which is why mowed lawns and weedy edges are such reliable places to find them.

In Texas the Fiery Skipper is common and widespread from spring through fall, peaking in late summer, wherever flowers and grass grow together.

A note from behind the lens: their small size and quick flight are the challenge, but their fondness for flowers gives you a target. Wait at a favored blossom, work in still morning light before they warm up and speed off, and get square to the wings for that fiery orange to shine.