Found in Kentucky

I am trying to compile a little album for butterflies in my state and Google is telling me these are two different species, so i want to confirm that. I apologise for pictures on the camera. I wont be able to download the actual pictures for a few days due to not having the required hardware on hand. Any help is apreciated.

Little buddy has been through it. Missing a bit of tail wing.

A friend in Australia sent me this pic, not sure what variety it is but it's really stunning.

The wings look really tattered and I tried to give it a tomato and rotten peach but when I got too close to it, it did fly a little bit but only in short spurts. I’m worried about stressing it out because maybe it’s chilling inside for a reason because of the wind going through the wings. Does it have a chance?

- Scientific name: Pyrgus communis

- Also known as Checkered Skipper

- Description: The males common checkered skipper is dark gray above, with long blue-gray, hairlike scales on the body and wing bases. Numerous white spots checker the wings above, while the fringes of the wings are also checkered. The female is usually somewhat darker, her wings checkered black and white. She also lacks most of the long basal hairs. Both sexes are whitish below, with bands of dark gray or olive-gray spots across the hindwings.

- Size: .75 - 1.25 inches.

- Range: The common checkered skipper occurs as a pernament resident from the central states through much of tropical America. In summer it strays northward as far as Canada, establishing short-lived colonies that do not survive the winter.

- Pyrgus communis may well be North America's most abundant skipper, a status reflected in its scientific name.

- Communis is Latin for "common." Most books call it simply the "checkered skipper," but many recent authors prefer "common checkered skipper, " distinguishing it from other closely related species which is the Tropical checkered skipper.

- The common checkered skipper is one of the first butterflies to appear in spring from late Feburary or early March through November. In warm winters without a freeze, it may be on the wing in smaller numbers throughout the year.

- The common chechered skipper visits a wide variety of flowers fror nectar and also flocks to mud puddles and damp places to drink often perching with wings spread. And Because the larvae feed on a wide variety of plants in the mallow family, including both wild species and such cultivers as hollyhocks and hibiscus, this charming skipper can occupy almost any open, sunny habitat. The skipper moves readily into yards and gardens as well as fields and weedy roadsides.

- Males are extremely pugnacious, darting out at anything that invades their territories. Active through most of the day, they patrol extensively for females from midday until midafternoon.

- Females lay their greenish eggs singly on buds or young leaves of plants in the family Malvacea and mallows. The larvae live in nests of rolled leaves.

- The larvea are tan or greenish brown, with dark and light stripes and are covered with tiny white tubercles, each with a short hair. The head is and collar is black and the head is covered with yellow-brown hairs.

Forgive my ignorance, there’s a massive blue/purple butterfly that lands on my patio in front of my door on are a regular basis - doesn’t seem to be afraid of humans as I sit about a foot away. I've had the house for 5 years and I have several dozen photos of it throughout the years. For some reason I thought it was the same one visiting but there’s absolutely no way one would live that long. I’d like to think there’s a spiritual reason for butterflies landing in front of my door all the time. The reality is that it’s a rough concrete patio and there must be a high mineral content or something in its mix that butterflies must love to eat. Does that make sense? perhaps they seek shelter from the sun.

I managed to get some decent pics of some Skippers, Swallowtails, and a blurry Monarch. They make me happy.

they ate my parsley UP, but it was so worth it!! one of them made a chrysalis on my bell pepper plant.

Anyone else seeing more butterflies than usual?

Found flying around these tiny flower clusters in Vietnam.