OK, so this is interesting. The first is absolutely a WID. The second one looks like a Horace's Duskywing Erynnis horatius. What I mean is, there's a prominent glassy spot in the "cell" -- the one inside the ring of spots at the median of the forewing.

That spot is what we use in the field to distinguish WID from Horace's in the field.

Jeff

Jeff, Couldn't you also tell them apart by the number of white spots on each one?
Cathy

That's a good idea, and it sent me back to pics of WIDs and HDs to look. What I see is that WIDs seem to always have 5 spots -- 4 near the costa and one in the middle of the wing. This appears to be true for both females and males.

The HD on the other hand seems to vary between 6 and 7 spots.

One problem is that Juvenal's Duskywing also has the cell-spot that Horace's has, but looks grayer (and has two spots underneath). So counting spots only on the top would not separate those two.

The other thing is that spots can rub off in older specimens.

Jeff

What does this one with six spots do to the equation...shot during the same period and on the same bush?

Bob

{{gwi:503278}}

Another Horace's. The glassy cell-spot is definite.

When I see a lot's of WIDs, I tend to see Horace's as well. The extra glassy spot is a giveaway. Glad to see they are out. I was out today and haven't seen any as of yet.
-Elisabeth

Jeff, I'm going to have to look closer at the duskwings that I see here. I've been assuming that they're all Indigoes, but maybe not. I know for sure that I have the WID because of the eggs being laid on the B. australis. There are a lot of oaks around here, so I could possibly see the other kinds too, although the trees are big and I doubt if I'd ever see any eggs being laid up so high. Hopefully the butterflies would come and nectar on some of the flowers in the garden.

Thank you for your observations on the three different kinds of duskywings. That will help me ID them if I ever get the other kinds.

Bob, I was concentrating so much on the spots of the duskywings that I neglected to tell you how nice I think your pictures are and I really enjoy looking at them.

Cathy