The Common Checkered-skipper butterfly, Pyrgus communis, is found in the Southern United States during February through October. Its remarkable white bands across fore and hind wing coupled with the blue-gray hairs on the head and thorax make this small butterfly easy to spot. They are difficult to photograph because the don’t stay in one place very long.

In this image, you can see the cream and white markings of the underside of the wings while this member of the Skipper family (Hesperiidae) feeds from the disk flowers of the White Prairie Aster. The Common Checkered-skipper likes open woodland, or grassland with a variety of flowering plants.

Members of the Asteraceae flower family produce flower heads that look like a single flower but they are really a composite of multiple flowers. Each petal has a flower at its base and each part of the yellow disk is an individual flower. The 1 inch diameter flowers of the Prairie Aster give you an indication of the size of our butterfly friend.

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