Wild Indigo Duskywing
Female - August 2024
The Wild Indigo Duskywing (Erynnis baptisiae) is a small brown butterfly with a wingspan of approximately 1.3 inches. This species is likely the most common duskywing in NJ. They can occur in all counties from April through October.
Male - August 2024
Males are a bit smaller than females and are very dark - coffee brown. They have tiny dots near the edge of the upper side of the forewing - the dots on the females are just a bit bigger.
Male - August 2025
When the light hits their wings just right, you can see upside-down rainbows near the hindwing edges - it is so cool!!
Female - September 2018
It’s certainly hard to gauge size when you are getting started observing butterflies, but if you notice a duskywing that is on the smaller side, and has small, inconspicuous spots on the forewings, it is almost definitely a Wild Indigo Duskywing!! Horace’s Duskywings are larger and both the male and female have more noticeable spots. Juvenal’s are also larger, emerge and fly earlier in the year, and have large spots and bolder wing details in general.
Female - September 2018
This individual was one of the more cooperative Wind Indigo Duskywings I have ever found and perched on goldenrod leaves and flower buds for short stretches.
Female - August 2021
Duskywings only close their wings fully on rare occasions so I was happy to get this nice look at a female as she perched on the grass!
Female - August 2018
It’s always useful to observe and photograph species which are difficult to identify under varying lighting conditions. This female Wild Indigo Duskywing certainly looks different on a cloudy day.
September 2016
This was my first ever sighting of a Wild Indigo Duskywing back in 2016!!
Just look at those wing details! They remind me of a Hubble image of a galaxy with stars and colorful gas clouds.
July 2025
