Common Name: The Farmer, Rural Skipper
The newly-coined "common name" Rural Skipper is
very unfortunate since there is a skipper "really-named" ruralis
- Pyrgus ruralis. And it's in our fauna. The Farmer is intolerant
of civilization. It is common to abundant in rocky foothill canyons. At
mid-elevation (Washington, Lang) it occurs in dry, rocky sites, often with
Goldencup Oak and Coyotemint. It does not venture above 5000'.
The foothill populations are ardent visitors to
California Buckeye flowers, and their flight period exactly matches its
blooming time. Males perch in sunflecks and vigorous chases are common. At
mid-elevation less common and often visiting Coyotemint and Yerba Santa.
Mid-elevation specimens are significantly larger than foothill and differ
subtly from them in color and pattern. One brood in late spring (late
April-early July at Gates; late May-July higher), barely if at all overlapping sympatric O. sylvanoides.
Hosts presumably native perennial grasses.