It’s been in the back of my mind to break out of my rut and explore different areas – at the very least, the rest of the Potomac Gorge.  And I keep thinking “next year; I’ll do it next year.”

In the meantime, Steve and I might have picked up a new hobby.  We rented kayaks from the Boathouse at Fletcher’s Cove and went out on the river last Saturday. And guess what I saw?  Wildflowers.  Lots and lots of wildflowers, some that I’d never seen before.  But I didn’t have a camera with me.  Not even the iPhone!

So yesterday morning I went again, and took my time exploring the shoreline. Went from Fletcher’s upstream to Chain Bridge, then back down the Virginia side past Fletcher’s and part way to Key Bridge, then back up the DC side.  Along the way I saw:

wild senna (either Senna hebecarpa or Senna marilandica)
water horehound or bugleweed (Lycopus species)
obedient plant (Physostegia virginiana)
boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum)
cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis)
pickerel-weed (Pontedaria cordata)
purple loosestrife (Lythrum species)
sneezeweed (Helenium autumnale)
water star-grass (Heteranthera dubia), in its element this time
tickseed sunflower (Bidens coronata)
and something that might have been extraordinarily tall evening primrose (Oenothera biennis)

And two ospreys, fishing.

So, where are the pictures?  I’m still new to kayaking; not trusting my ability to keep myself in the boat and dry, I decided to take an old point-and-shoot camera (Pentax Optio S4), figuring that if I was going to ruin a camera, it may as well be one I haven’t used in more than ten years.

Long story short, the pictures are awful (which is why some of the plants aren’t fully identified).

But now I have a new beat to explore.  And a new way of exploring it, too.  I’ll be back as soon as I can rig a way to keep the Nikon D3200 safe and dry.

a skipper, possibly a zabulon skipper (Poanes zabulon)

When I took this photo I wondered, is that a moth or a butterfly?  Eventually I identified it as a skipper, which I thought was a kind of butterfly until this article came along.  So of course I had to dig a little deeper.

Researching these topics usually becomes an exercise in understanding names, which usually leads down the rabbit hole into the wonderland of taxonomy, a place I love but don’t want to be visiting every time I write a blog post.

To my great relief, I found this right away: “From a taxonomic standpoint, the distinction between moths and butterflies is largely artificial”.*

Moths, butterflies, and skippers are in the order Lepidoptera, (from the ancient Greek words meaning “scale” and “wing”).  Scaly, pigmented wings that are relatively large compared to body size is one of the distinguishing characteristics of the order.   In general – there are always exceptions – the differences come down to this:

Moths are mostly nocturnal, hold their wings flat when at rest, tend to be drab colors, and have threadlike or featherlike antennae.

Butterflies are diurnal, hold their wings over their bodies when at rest, tend to be brightly colored, and have hooked or club-like antennae.

Skippers often hold their forewings over their bodies and their hindwings flat, have moth-like heads and bodies, have knobbed antennae with hooked tips, have smaller wings with respect to body size, and larger eyes than moths and butterflies.

As Shakespeare wrote:

What’s in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet…

northern pearly eye (Enodia anthedon)

*North Carolina State University General Entomology website
other sources:
Wikipedia articles about skippers and Lepidoptera 
LearnAboutButterflies.com
Encyclopædia Brittanica
marylandbutterflies.com