Long-tailed Skippers

Long-tailed Skipper feeding on Lantana.  Note the blue back, the twin
tails, and the multiple clear "windows" on the wings.

One of the prettiest butterflies to visit my backyard arrives in increasing numbers each July and August:  Long-tailed Skippers.  (Urbanus Proteus)

They spend the winter in frost-free regions of southern Florida.  As the weather warms in the spring the butterflies spread north across the Southern United States to take advantage of additional food sources and less competition with other butterflies.




Over the past several years I've noticed the first Long-tailed Skippers arriving in my backyard in July and early August, but it's the month of September where numbers of these butterflies really increase.  On a recent day in late September I counted six Long-tailed Skippers simultaneously scattered across a single eight-foot wide planting of Lantana.

Long-tailed Skipper

Long-tailed Skippers will utilize almost any available flower for nectar.  For reproduction they seek out plants in the bean family, including many cultivated garden beans, on which to lay their eggs.  This can make them an agricultural pest in some areas.  In my backyard the naturalized Chinese Wisteria serves as a very effective larval food source and may be the birthplace of some of my late-season butterflies.

One thing that makes this butterfly so striking is the deep blue coloration on its back.  In certain light angles there appears to be a shimmering iridescence associated with the blue.  Many insects and even some birds utilize iridescence, a physical refracting of light, rather than true coloration based on pigments.  Just think of the silvery iridescence of a dragonfly's wings or the metallic green on a hummingbird's back.

Long-tailed Skipper viewed from the side

The number of Long-tailed Skippers in my backyard begins to diminish by mid October as the butterflies sense the shortening days and cooler nighttime temperatures and they migrate south to Florida.  By early November we typically haven't had our first frost yet but the Long-tailed Skippers are gone, safely moving toward the south side of the winter freeze line in Florida.