Euptoieta claudia
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~30%
Euptoieta claudia, the variegated fritillary, is a North and South American butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. Though the variegated fritillary has some very different characteristics from the Speyeria fritillaries, it is still closely related to them. Some of the differences include variegated fritillaries have two or three broods per year vs. one per year in Speyeria; they are nomadic vs. sedentary; and they use a wide range of host plants vs. just violets. And because of their use of passionflowers as a host plant, variegated fritillaries also have taxonomic links to the heliconians. Their flight is low and swift, but even when resting or nectaring, this species is extremely difficult to approach, so its genus name was taken from the Greek word euptoietos meaning "easily scared".
The upperside of the wings is checkered with orange and black. Both the forewing and hindwing have a row of submarginal black spots and black median lines running across the wings. The underside of the forewing is orange with a pale orange spot rimmed in black in the forewing cell. The underside of the hindwing is mottled with browns and grays with a pale postmedian band. There is no... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guadalupe Mountains National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Badlands National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Big Bend National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Congaree National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Padre Island National Seashore | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Great Smoky Mountains National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Grand Canyon National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Shenandoah National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Rocky Mountain National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Cumbres de Monterrey National Park | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 11 | Saguaro National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 12 | Zion National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 13 | Big Cypress National Preserve | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 14 | Yellowstone National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 15 | Everglades National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 16 | Banff National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Antonio | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Dallas | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Ciudad Juárez | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 4 | Austin | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Baltimore | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Washington | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Denver | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Philadelphia | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Monterrey | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 10 | Houston | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Variegated Fritillary sighting in Banff National Park on a given day, based on 7 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 64th most-seen of the 105 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July and August
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Variegated Fritillary in Banff National Park on a given day, against under 5% in September to June, the lowest months.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Variegated Fritillary sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
16th of 16
Of the 16 parks where we can rate Variegated Fritillary sightings, Banff National Park ranks 16th at about 10%. The best odds are in Guadalupe Mountains National Park (United States, about 30%), Badlands National Park (United States, about 30%) and Big Bend National Park (United States, about 20%).
Same family: Nymphalidae
The closest relatives of the Variegated Fritillary that you can see in Banff National Park (family Nymphalidae, Brush-footed Butterflies) are Pearl Crescent (about 30%), Milbert's Tortoiseshell (about 20%) and Mourning Cloak (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Variegated Fritillary is recorded against all the insects logged in Banff National Park (7 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
