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Finally!!! I've been searching for this rare and poorly-known species for over two years. Horrible photo, I only saw this individual for a few seconds, and only got this one shot. But the underwing pattern is clear enough. Note that the 'top-most' spot is small and isolated, where Green Skipper would have another large spot overlapping that one. Also note that the row of lower-most spots are fairly small. In the field, I noted that these spots were in-line with one another, not curved as in Green Skipper. Compare with female Sachem, and with the Green Skipper I observed on the same day: http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/2098554 High-quality photos of the central TX form of Apache Skipper are available here: http://www.butterfliesofamerica.com/L/hesperia_woodgatei_ctexassegregate_live.htm Note that these central TX individuals have much smaller spots than what the field guides might illustrate. There was past discussion of splitting this into a different species, but it was never formally described and published as such.
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I REALLY appreciate aredoubles alerting me to the possibility of finding this very local skipper at Balcones right now. I was scouting for a NPSOT field trip on the (closed) Post Oak Creek tract of Balcones Canyonlands NWR (Travis Co.) in the morning when I saw this individual. It was nectaring on frostweed. If not for Roger's alert observations, I might not have even been looking for this species. It was the *only* Hesperia that I saw today; no Green Skippers. Note, among other marks, the diagnostic white patches under the antennal clubs in the close-up in the 2nd image.
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I REALLY appreciate aredoubles alerting me to the possibility of finding this very local skipper at Balcones right now. I was scouting for a NPSOT field trip on the (closed) Post Oak Creek tract of Balcones Canyonlands NWR (Travis Co.) in the morning when I saw this individual. It was nectaring on frostweed. If not for Roger's alert observations, I might not have even been looking for this species. It was the *only* Hesperia that I saw today; no Green Skippers. Note, among other marks, the diagnostic white patches under the antennal clubs in the close-up in the 2nd image.
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I REALLY appreciate aredoubles alerting me to the possibility of finding this very local skipper at Balcones right now. I was scouting for a NPSOT field trip on the (closed) Post Oak Creek tract of Balcones Canyonlands NWR (Travis Co.) in the morning when I saw this individual. It was nectaring on frostweed. If not for Roger's alert observations, I might not have even been looking for this species. It was the *only* Hesperia that I saw today; no Green Skippers. Note, among other marks, the diagnostic white patches under the antennal clubs in the close-up in the 2nd image.
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I REALLY appreciate aredoubles alerting me to the possibility of finding this very local skipper at Balcones right now. I was scouting for a NPSOT field trip on the (closed) Post Oak Creek tract of Balcones Canyonlands NWR (Travis Co.) in the morning when I saw this individual. It was nectaring on frostweed. If not for Roger's alert observations, I might not have even been looking for this species. It was the *only* Hesperia that I saw today; no Green Skippers. Note, among other marks, the diagnostic white patches under the antennal clubs in the close-up in the 2nd image.
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This is clearly a flight year for this local population of Apache Skipper. I encountered at least 6 individuals along Post Oak Creek on Balcones Canyonlands NWR (Travis Co.). They were nectaring mainly on plateau goldeneye, and also on gray goldenrod, and frostweed. Due to the unusual opportunity afforded today to document this local population, I'm uploading a gallery of a dozen images of the species encompassing at least 4 different individuals.
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This is clearly a flight year for this local population of Apache Skipper. I encountered at least 6 individuals along Post Oak Creek on Balcones Canyonlands NWR (Travis Co.). They were nectaring mainly on plateau goldeneye, and also on gray goldenrod, and frostweed. Due to the unusual opportunity afforded today to document this local population, I'm uploading a gallery of a dozen images of the species encompassing at least 4 different individuals.
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This is clearly a flight year for this local population of Apache Skipper. I encountered at least 6 individuals along Post Oak Creek on Balcones Canyonlands NWR (Travis Co.). They were nectaring mainly on plateau goldeneye, and also on gray goldenrod, and frostweed. Due to the unusual opportunity afforded today to document this local population, I'm uploading a gallery of a dozen images of the species encompassing at least 4 different individuals.
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This is clearly a flight year for this local population of Apache Skipper. I encountered at least 6 individuals along Post Oak Creek on Balcones Canyonlands NWR (Travis Co.). They were nectaring mainly on plateau goldeneye, and also on gray goldenrod, and frostweed. Due to the unusual opportunity afforded today to document this local population, I'm uploading a gallery of a dozen images of the species encompassing at least 4 different individuals.
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This is clearly a flight year for this local population of Apache Skipper. I encountered at least 6 individuals along Post Oak Creek on Balcones Canyonlands NWR (Travis Co.). They were nectaring mainly on plateau goldeneye, and also on gray goldenrod, and frostweed. Due to the unusual opportunity afforded today to document this local population, I'm uploading a gallery of a dozen images of the species encompassing at least 4 different individuals.
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This is clearly a flight year for this local population of Apache Skipper. I encountered at least 6 individuals along Post Oak Creek on Balcones Canyonlands NWR (Travis Co.). They were nectaring mainly on plateau goldeneye, and also on gray goldenrod, and frostweed. Due to the unusual opportunity afforded today to document this local population, I'm uploading a gallery of a dozen images of the species encompassing at least 4 different individuals.
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This is clearly a flight year for this local population of Apache Skipper. I encountered at least 6 individuals along Post Oak Creek on Balcones Canyonlands NWR (Travis Co.). They were nectaring mainly on plateau goldeneye, and also on gray goldenrod, and frostweed. Due to the unusual opportunity afforded today to document this local population, I'm uploading a gallery of a dozen images of the species encompassing at least 4 different individuals.
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This is clearly a flight year for this local population of Apache Skipper. I encountered at least 6 individuals along Post Oak Creek on Balcones Canyonlands NWR (Travis Co.). They were nectaring mainly on plateau goldeneye, and also on gray goldenrod, and frostweed. Due to the unusual opportunity afforded today to document this local population, I'm uploading a gallery of a dozen images of the species encompassing at least 4 different individuals.
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This is clearly a flight year for this local population of Apache Skipper. I encountered at least 6 individuals along Post Oak Creek on Balcones Canyonlands NWR (Travis Co.). They were nectaring mainly on plateau goldeneye, and also on gray goldenrod, and frostweed. Due to the unusual opportunity afforded today to document this local population, I'm uploading a gallery of a dozen images of the species encompassing at least 4 different individuals.
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This is clearly a flight year for this local population of Apache Skipper. I encountered at least 6 individuals along Post Oak Creek on Balcones Canyonlands NWR (Travis Co.). They were nectaring mainly on plateau goldeneye, and also on gray goldenrod, and frostweed. Due to the unusual opportunity afforded today to document this local population, I'm uploading a gallery of a dozen images of the species encompassing at least 4 different individuals.
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This is clearly a flight year for this local population of Apache Skipper. I encountered at least 6 individuals along Post Oak Creek on Balcones Canyonlands NWR (Travis Co.). They were nectaring mainly on plateau goldeneye, and also on gray goldenrod, and frostweed. Due to the unusual opportunity afforded today to document this local population, I'm uploading a gallery of a dozen images of the species encompassing at least 4 different individuals.
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This is clearly a flight year for this local population of Apache Skipper. I encountered at least 6 individuals along Post Oak Creek on Balcones Canyonlands NWR (Travis Co.). They were nectaring mainly on plateau goldeneye, and also on gray goldenrod, and frostweed. Due to the unusual opportunity afforded today to document this local population, I'm uploading a gallery of a dozen images of the species encompassing at least 4 different individuals.
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Dorsal..