Bug FAQPeck's Skipper
Polites peckius · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Hesperiidae
Peck's skipper is a small North American butterfly with a wingspan of about 2-3 cm and distinctive dark brown and yellow-orange markings on both sexes. It lives in grassy areas such as meadows, marshes and roadsides, flies from May to October, and can have two or three generations each year. Adults feed on flower nectar while the caterpillars eat various grasses, and the species ranges across much of Canada and the northern and central United States.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
Both male and female butterflies show dark brown and yellow-orange patterns on their wings.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
The wingspan measures between 19 and 27 mm (about 2-3 cm).
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
It prefers grassy habitats such as meadows, marshes and roadside verges.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Adult butterflies sip nectar from flowers like red clover, purple vetch and thistles. Caterpillars feed on grasses such as rice cutgrass and bluegrass.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
The species flies from May through October and can produce two or three generations each year. After mating, females lay single eggs rather than clusters.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
Adults are on the wing from May to October.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
Peck's skipper is native to North America, found across Canada from British Columbia to Labrador and in most northern and central U.S. states, but not on the west coast.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
The straw-coloured hindwing patch distinguishes Peck's skipper from other Polites butterflies.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 44 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Vermont, New York, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: native in North America; native in United States; native in Canada. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
Are they a garden pest?
Caterpillars feed on grasses, but there is no source indicating they damage garden plants or crops.
Source: Wikipedia
When can I see them?
Adults are active from May through October, with two or three generations per year.
Source: Wikipedia
How can I tell Peck's skipper apart from similar butterflies?
Look for the large straw-coloured patch on the underside of the hindwing; both sexes also have dark brown and yellow-orange wing markings.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Hesperiidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polites_peckius
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-22 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.