Sachems are (were) in R.I.!

[HpAzures at aol.com]

All,

Though this report comes from neighboring R.I., it is indicative of what is 
occurring throughout southern New England this summer.  I am posting this 
note to both Massachusetts and Connecticut groups to put observers on alert 
for the Sachem Skipper.  

On July 11, I visited several areas in northern R.I., to continue gathering 
field data for the ongoing R.I. butterfly survey.  Along a powerline on the 
south side of Snake Hill Road in the southeastern corner of Glocester town, 
west of Greenville, I vouchered several different skippers, and managed to 
obtain several in my net at once, in at least one instance.  I failed to 
immediately identify some of these on location, due to time constraints and 
boggy condition of a portion of the powerline, making movement  difficult.  

At the time, I certainly had not expected to find the Sachem in R.I., and 
stored the specimen away, believing it to be some other Skipper, perhaps a 
very late Indian Skipper, though it would have been out of season.  This 
week, while identifying these specimens, I was surprised to learn that a 
Sachem was among them!  It is a rather small male with somewhat of a more 
orange tint beneath, than those occurring commonly here in northern Virginia.

Due to this fact, another emergence of Sachems should be underway at about 
this time in southern New England.  The skipper is fond of wide open fields 
with abundant nectar sources, but can be commonly found in gardens and along 
utility ROW's.

Harry Pavulaan