Originally posted by TER-OR Skippers seem to be doing OK compared with many other butterflies. I suspect this is a host plant issue - habitat loss is the biggest problem for any species.
It depends. Many skippers use grasses as larval hosts - those ones tend to do OK, unless they're prairie grass specialists. There's at least one prairie species that's in big trouble. Around here, our sedge skippers are doing OK, perhaps by spreading along roadside ditches.
The Eastern Persius Duskywing ( feeds on lupines ) and Mottled Duskywing ( feeds on New Jersey Tea ) are not doing well at all, so skippers are by no means immune. On the other hand, the Wild Indigo Duskywing has adopted introduced Crown Vetch as an alternate host plant, and is spreading like wild fire across Ontario ( and presumably, elsewhere ).
So there are winners and losers.