The Peck’s Skipper butterfly is a small, very common, grass skipper. The underside of the hindwing has a yellow-orange band with one rectangle in the band much wider than the rest of the band. Overall, the hindwing underside is brown with a yellow-orange patch near the hindwing base. The width of the central brown region varies. Males and females are similar, viewed from the upper side, but the female is darker.

 

“Peck’s Skipper” by David Marvin, licensed under (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

 

Peck’s Skipper Facts

Butterfly Family: Skipper (Hesperiidae)

Butterfly Subfamily: Hesperiinae

Butterfly Wingspan: 1 – 1 1/4 inches

Butterfly Habitat: Many open grassy habitats including meadows, prairies, lawns, marshes, landfills, roadsides, vacant lots, and power line right-of-ways

 

Peck’s Skipper Host and Nectar Plants

Host Plants:

• Rice Cut Grass
• Kentucky Blue Grass

Nectar Plants:

• Nectar from various flowers
  • Red Clover
  • Common Milkweed
  • Swamp Milkweed
  • Purple Vetch
  • Ironweed
  • Thistles
  • Dogbane
  • New Jersey Tea
  • Blue Vervain
  • Bee Balm
  • Mistflower
  • Purple Coneflower