Papilio hesperus
In 3 days ~60% in a week ~90%
Papilio hesperus, the black and yellow swallowtail or Hesperus swallowtail, is a butterfly of the family Papilionidae. It is found in Africa. It is monomorphic, meaning there is only one phenotype in the population of this species. The dorsal and ventral sides of its wings are practically identical due to the wing's translucence.
Papilio hesperus is a very large butterfly with a wingspan of 110 to 130 mm, with a very concave outer edge of the forewings and scalloped hindwings with a club-shaped tail. The wings are brown to black decorated with pale yellow spots, part of which forms a band with brown veins from half of the forewings to their inner edge and then from the costal edge to the inner edge of the hindwings. Two spots are on the hindwings near the tail.
The larvae feed on Beilschmiedia species, including Beilschmiedia ugandensis. Papilio hesperus is the nominal member of the hesperus species group. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bwindi Impenetrable National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda |
More parks will be added in future updates.
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Hesper’s Bush Kite Swallowtail sighting in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park on a given day, based on 17 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 7th most-seen of the 38 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 60%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March and May
In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Hesper’s Bush Kite Swallowtail in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park on a given day, against under 5% in June, September and November–February, the lowest months.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Hesper’s Bush Kite Swallowtail sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, in our data
Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Hesper’s Bush Kite Swallowtail sightings: about 20% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same genus: Papilio
The closest relatives of the Hesper’s Bush Kite Swallowtail that you can see in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (genus Papilio, Common Swallowtails) are Apple-Green Swallowtail (about 30%), MacKinnon’s Swallowtail (about 30%) and Jackson’s Swallowtail (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Hesper’s Bush Kite Swallowtail is recorded against all the insects logged in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (17 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.
