Not Alarmed but why?

[Woody Woods]

Just a SWAG-- Scientific Wild-Ass Guess-- I'd suspect that skippers and
hummingbirds are frequent acquaintances at nectar sources where neither is a
predator of the other; both taxa may have "realized" that in an evolutionary
sense. You plus net, on the other hand... well, to that skipper you are the
unknown and risky. Not sure your size is important; I doubt a skipper would
consider an elephant a threat.

Woody

> From: Stan Gorodenski <stan_gorodenski at asualumni.org>
> Reply-To: stan_gorodenski at asualumni.org
> Date: Thu, 21 Jul 2005 08:59:59 -0800
> To: leps-l at lists.yale.edu
> Subject: Not Alarmed but why?
> 
> Recently I observed a Silver Spotted Skipper (Epargyreus clarus) feeding
> on a thistle head. A hummingbird flew very close by it to a spot
> opposite to the position of the skipper where it proceeded to feed also.
> It amazed me that the skipper did not get alarmed and fly off because if
> I or my net were to come this close it would do jus that. I'm guessing
> that the biggest threat of predation comes from birds which are closer
> to the size of the hummingbird, not large animals this size of us. Can
> anyone give an explanation for this differential response? Is the size
> of the hummingbird below the trigger threshhold level for a response,
> for example?
> Stan
> 
> 
> 
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