Once you have learned to identify the most common butterflies, the real challenge begins: realizing when you have something completely new on your hands! At first I though this was a Little Wood-Satyr, but the brown line on the wing seemed too jagged and the time wasn’t right: here in the north, the flight of Little Wood-Satyr ends in July. So then I entertained the idea of Eyed Brown. Was the brown muted because I was shooting my photos in the shadows? No. This butterfly is simply not brown enough to be Eyed Brown.
So it was off to the internets to look for alternatives. For now, I’ve settled on Northern Pearly Eye. I am waiting for BAMONA to confirm my tentative id.
