swamp_lily's Identifications

With Valeri Ponzo; the first visit for either of us to this beautiful Longleaf Pine flatwoods ecosystem site. This was a very successful visit for Loammi Skippers (20+!) and Arogos Skippers (15+! [?]), both lifers. We also stumbled upon two Georgia Satyrs (another lifer for each), and one Swarthy Skipper (a lifer for Val). And I’m sure that we each got lifer plants and other lifer “bugs.” Much thanks to Ed Perry (@seaheart88) for giving advice and for sending a map. Thanks also to Don Fraser, who identified some skippers for us. We arrived at the entrance station at 0918 and entered the loop road a few minutes later. The weather at the start was sunny and 78 degrees ("feels like" 85) with a light breeze. All of these sightings are from the western loop road and the southern half of the eastern loop road. We had begun to drive west on the cross road when it started raining steadily. We left at 1518 and headed back to Valrico, where we left Val’s car.

Note: I didn't check Jet's fuel gauge before we entered the WMA, so eventually we left the area, got fuel, and returned. We lost about 50 minutes doing so, but nearly all the thistles and butterflies were concentrated near the recent flatwoods burn along the western loop south of the cross road, so we probably didn't miss much (other than an hour of time). The rest of the loop road was pretty uneventful.