It is possible your butterfly is a field crescent, however: It would be out of its range, normally in the higher mountains of Washington. What is your elevation? The Audubon and Peterson guides, and the Butterflies of Cascadia book by Pyle do not mention antenna clubs as an ID point for these butterflies. It is not the entire antenna club, but the mere tip of the club that varies in color and it is hard to tell in your photo the exact color of the tips. In the guide books I mention, there are photos of orange-tipped field crescents and brown-tipped Mylittas. It is the well-developed brown areas on the hindwings that most guides use to ID the Mylitta. Perhaps next summer you will see more of these. If the topsides of the wings are generally dark, it is a field crescent and if the wings are orangish, it is Mylittas. It would be great if it is the field crescent because that is a much less common butterfly in Washington.

Oh, I think you are right! It must be a mourning cloak. It was hard to get a picture of this butterfly but s/he actually really looked like he was black/brown! There didn't even seem to be a trace of red on it. That's why I didn't think it could be a mourning cloak at first because I was searching for black butterflies. Thanks for answering my question! :)

Hmmm....I thought all the roadside skippers were of the "airplane" winged types, which this one definitely is not. Also, dusky roadside skippers don't occur in Missouri. Looks to me more like a female horace's duskywing, possibly a juvenal's duskywing. Nice picture, Christie! Sherry

I know for sure we have PVSTs in extreme South Dane County, as I have a friend whose garden teems with GSTs, PVSTs and Tigers in the Summer months. I have never seen any other Swallowtail than BSTs and Tigers here in Madison. I've got my eyes peeled for a return trip possibly tomorrow. In the mean time, I'm enjoying Hummers, Ladies and Red Admirals, along with the occasional Cabbage White. I have also had regular visits with a nice Comma.