Checkered

November 05, 2025

It is getting colder at night, and I am still waiting to see if my second crop vegetables will produce.  I have flowers (and even tiny fruit) on my peas (Pisum sativum).  The cabbage (Brassica oleracea) is growing well but has yet begun to make a head.  The same can be said for my broccoli (Brassica oleracea).  I have two small watermelons (Citrullus lanatus) but it is doubtful they will survive long enough to harvest.  I also have two leafy vegetables that are doing well.  The iceberg lettuce (Lactuca sativa) has yet to produce a head, and the spinach (Spinacia oleracea) is small but holding its own.  We are predicted to have the temperature drop to 28F (-2C) or colder for several hours (a hard freeze) this weekend.  A hard freeze effectively ends the growing season by killing any remaining annual plants and most seasonal vegetables.  When I went out to check my beds this morning, I found yet another new species of butterfly on the wildflowers, a common checkered-skipper.

When I went online, I found the common checkered skipper (Burnsius communis), formerly known as Pyrgus communis, is a species of butterfly in the family Hesperiidae.  It is known as the frequently seen spread-winged skippers (Pyrginae) species in the northern US by collectors and watchers alike.  The common checkered skipper has a wingspan of 0.75 to 1.25 inches (19 to 32 mm).  It gets its name from the checkerboard pattern on its wings.  The male tends to have broader bands than the female.  The body tends to be blue-gray with the small amount of “fuzz” which is seen in all skippers.  This butterfly can be found in gardens, parks, fields, roadsides, riverbanks, lowlands and foothills throughout southern Canada and almost the entire expanse of the US.  It has also been seen in Mexico.  In southern regions the checkered will fly all year with multiple broods.  In the north it will have two broods and fly late into the fall. 

Much like the variegated fritillary, the checkered skipper overwinters as a fully grown caterpillar (or a late-stage instar caterpillar) in a rolled-up leaf or other shelter it creates on its host plant.  This period of dormancy (overwintering) lasts from late fall until spring.  The caterpillar then forms a chrysalis (pupates) and emerges as an adult butterfly.  I did not see any monarchs (Danaus plexippus) so hopefully they continued their journey South.  The cold predicted for this weekend means the adult butterflies still present are on short time.  The checkered cannot survive very cold winters and may not be a permanent resident north of the 40th parallel.

THOUGHTS: The 40th parallel north is not just significant as a division line for the checkered skipper, it also holds significance as a historical and geographical landmark in the US.  This was the boundary between the Kansas and Nebraska territories established by the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854.  The Mason-Dixon Line is generally thought of as the dividing line between the Northern and Southern states during the US Civil War, but the original line established the border between Maryland and Pennsylvania colonies.  The colonies both claimed the area between the 39th and 40th parallel.  The Mason-Dixon line settled the boundary question at a northern latitude of 39 degrees and 43 minutes.  The line was marked using stones, with Pennsylvania’s crest on one side and Maryland’s on the other.  It is ironic how arbitrary lines of division separate humans into categories of “us” and “them”.  We need to look beyond these divisions and find the sameness of all.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.