Thanks Jack! I like your pictures, too. Although, you're giving me coneflower envy again! I will admit, I looked up coneflowers on the Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants website because I thought they were a native plant. Well, they are native - to one county in the panhandle! Maybe that's why I have such problems. Speaking of natives, I had been told that Sweet Almond Bush was native but I just found out it's a South American plant! I like it, the bees like it, but if some native comes along that I need space for - it may be in trouble!
In other interesting news, BAMONA got back to me pretty quick on that skipper and it's one I've never heard of. It's not in any of my books, either. It's called a Monk and it is native to Cuba and the Bahamas and such and hitched a ride to Florida around the 1940's according to internet research. It hosts on various palms so it quickly spread. I see them often enough to recognize them but they're not super common. They just don't seem to have any distinguishable markings like other skippers which is, ironically, what makes me notice them. Plus, they have a really long proboscis and I think that's cool. Here's the link to the BAMONA species info page:
http://www.butterfliesandmoths...
