This was a tricky butterfly! I recognized the three dots on the top of the wing as a pattern I'd seen before, but I couldn't remember which butterfly it was. I grabbed as many photos as I could both for this site, and so I could identify it at home from the pictures.

The butterfly kept leaving after a photo or two, but it seemed to call this corner of a field by the woods home, so I just spent the afternoon checking back there again and again, getting a photo or two each time.

In the photo above, it's perched on a Broomweed seed pod. I wonder what its host plant is? I know my Tropical Checkered Skipper Butterflies use Broomweed.

It was a tricky butterfly to identify because its TAIL was MISSING! You must admit, a long tail is a really big clue to start with Long-tailed butterflies when you're looking one up. This one didn't have one, so I looked there as a last resort. At least I found it.

I was reasonably sure I had it figured out, so I thought to double check all of the long-tailed skipper photos I got in the same area that weekend, and look at what I found; one with most of its tail still attached having a sip of Porterweed nectar:

As soon as I get a little more free time when the weather is nice, I'll go back to where I found these two and try to find an intact one to photograph.