A skipperling evokes memories of a dedicated naturalist

Trying to figure out what to properly call this little orange butterfly brought me to the Tvetens' butterfly book and flood of memories about John Tveten (1934-2009).

John Tveten was a naturalist, photographer, author and fellow Baytown resident. I met him while I was working at the Baytown Sun. 

It was an encounter that still makes me cringe when I remember my stupidity. 

I was a punk reporter assigned to do a short piece about his book, Coastal Texas: Water, Land, and Wildlife (1982).

The next day I was horrified to realize I had misspelled his name throughout the piece.

"I can't believe you got it wrong when was right there on the front of the book," he said to me quite evenly. But I can imagine it was a line he had shouted with extra exclamatory remarks when he saw his named spelled Tveton.

You can't apologize enough for something like that. I made plenty of mistakes during my newspaper career, but that is one that still horrifies me.

A few years later when I was working at the Houston Chronicle, we got to know each other a little better. He wrote a nature column so I saw him a couple of times a month.

After about 25 years, Tveten and his wife ended the column in 1999 to work on more books.

I left the Chron in 2012 and now have more time to spend outdoors appreciating what John and Gloria Tveten documented so enthusiastically.

Looking at descriptions in their 1996 book  Butterflies of Houston and Southeast Texas, I believe this is a Southern Skipperling. The book says:

This tiny orange butterfly ranks as North America’s smallest skipper. 

It is abundant throughout the Houston area from at least March into November, frequenting open, sunny fields and roadsides as well as urban lots and gardens.

 …

The Southern Skipperling is bright orange. Some specimens have narrow black borders or dark veins, and the male has a tiny black stigma on the forewing. 

Beneath, both wings are orange, with a distinct light ray running across the hindwing from base to outer margin. The white ray can easily be seen as the butterfly perches with folded wings or sips nectar from a flower, and it is diagnostic of the species.