Woo! Hoo! Randy, that is Awesome!!! I'm sure that she is one happy girl. And you are an extremely proud Dad. Congratulations! Pearl Crescents are quite variable. If you can still find the book, "Butterflies of Oklahoma, Kansas, and North Texas" by John M. Dole, Walter Gerard, and John M. Nelson, it is an excellent book of the main butterflies of Okla. It also gives you comparisons between similar species. Another excellent book is "Butterflies of North America" by Jim P. Brock and Kenn Kaufman. It gives alot of visual comparisons of similar species, but you have to watch the maps, as they may not be common here in Okla. The upperside shows orange and black lines, circles, and crescents. The underside forewing is orange and black, while the hindwing is intricately marked with brown and vaires from light orange (summer) to whitish and brown (spring). The hindwing underside has a white crescent partially or completely surrounded by brown. This common to abunadant species overlaps the ranges of all other crescents and checkerspots and must be well studied to separate it from others. Pearl Crescent lacks the pale bands of Phaon and Painted crescents, the heavily marked forewing underside of the Vesta crescent, and the intricate zigzags of the hindwing underside of Gorgone checkerspots, and the white-centered hindwing spots of the Silvery checkerspot. Seen April thru November. Host plant: asters. Hope that helps. Here is a link that might be useful: Butterflies and Moths site

Hint: It is a hairstreak. The best way to learn is to do some searches. I've listed several butterfly identification sites for you. This website is a good review for beginners. Identify by shape, color, etc. Butterflies Occurring in the DC Area (This website has flight times for most species occurring in our area). Someone just alerted me to this online video of identifying skippers, too. Butterflies of North America Butterflies of the Carolinas and Virginias Wisconsin Butterflies Caterpillar host plant database, you can put the plant or butterfly in and get what plants it uses. Must use latin names. If it does come up with complete name listed, just take a few letters off the end and keep searching. MA Butterflies you can do side-by-side comparisons North Carolina Butterflies

Nice shot! My best guess would be Horace's Duskywing. I was just down in your general area and found Sandhill Cranes everywhere. I also came across a small 'island' full of nesting storks, egrets and anhingas in Pasco County. It's in a tight little subdivision, but if you get down there while construction is still going on - weekends are probably way better, of course - you can get some really good views. Let me know if you want specifics. There are some adorable babies there right now. 8-] ICA, Sophie ^i^

I'm so glad things are going better for you! My son was born the day after my birthday. It's kinda cool having them together!!