Hi friends,
I believe this butterfly is an Umber Skipper- I saw 2 of them in my San Jose , CA garden this morning. Can you confirm? More importantly, will they (their larvae, more specifically) be harmful to my vegetables? Should I shoo them away or leave them be? Many thanks!
You might try looking at the images on this site:
http://butterfly.ucdavis.edu/butterfly/common/Skippers
Larvae of the umber skipper appear to feed primarily if not exclusively on grasses...
I agree with Flapdoodle that this is a grass skipper whose caterpillars primarily eat grasses. But this skipper is a female Fiery skipper, http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/showimage/16713/,which has a spot in the cell area of the forewing above whereas the Umber lacks this spot and has less markings on the hindwing above.
