Searching for Dakota Skippers

This weekend Chyna and I met with Dennis Skadsen of the Day County Conservation District in South Dakota, a regional expert on Dakota skippers (Hesperia dacotae). Unassuming in their appearance and elusive to find, Dakota skippers are listed as threatened by IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature). These little brown butterflies are grass skippers, a group of butterflies whose caterpillar larvae feed upon grass and whose adults have a characteristic "jet-fighter" appearance due to the angle at which they hold their wings.

Dennis gave us the following tips for finding Dakota skippers in the field: watch out for their characteristic flight behavior of flying directly away from you when they are disturbed, and search the tops of purple coneflower (Echinacea angustifolia) because that's where they tend to rest and they are most easy to spot there.

Above photo by Katherine Kral

To identify Dakota skippers, look for the small white dots that they have on the underside of their wings. Other skippers may have white spots on their wings, but they tend to be larger than the Dakota skippers'. Females are brown below, and mottled brown and orange above. Males are orange below, and orange above with a dark stigma. The photos below feature Dakota skippers from Dennis' collection:

Male Dakota skipper underside:

Female Dakota skipper underside:

All the Dakota skippers we found during our visit in the field with Dennis were females. Here are more photos from that day:

Female Dakota skipper

Female Dakota skipper

Female Dakota skipper

Female Dakota skipper

Chyna and I were so happy to get a chance to see Dakota skippers in the field and learn tips from an expert. Thank you so much, Dennis!

We got one!

Chyna with Dakota skipper

Adrienne with Dakota skipper

#butterflies