Sphinx perelegans
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~30%
Sphinx perelegans, commonly known as the elegant sphinx, is a species of hawkmoth described by Henry Edwards in 1874. It is a large gray moth native to western North America. Sphinx perelegans is native to the western coast of North America, from British Columbia in Canada to Baja California Sur in Mexico. In the United States, it can be found in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington.
West of the Cascades, S. perelegans can be found in low elevation brushland and oak woodland, while at higher elevations of the Cascades and the Siskiyou Mountains it inhabits mixed hardwood-conifer forests. It can be found in hardwood-conifer forests and juniper-hardwoord woodlands at middle elevations around the Rocky Mountains and Blue Mountains.
Adult Sphinx perelegans are large moths with a wingspan of 9–11 cm (3.5–4.3 in), each forewing measuring 43–50 mm (1.7–2.0 in) in length. The forewings are dark gray with a diffuse pale gray patch that stretches from the base to the center of the wing and a pale gray line bordering the subterminal margin. The middle of the forewing is marked with several longitudinal... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Channel Islands National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Los Angeles | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report an Elegant Sphinx sighting in Channel Islands National Park on a given day, based on 8 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 117th most-seen of the 131 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.
April
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report an Elegant Sphinx in Channel Islands National Park on a given day, against under 5% in May–July and September–March, the lowest months. That is one of Channel Islands National Park's driest months, with about 10 mm of rain against 60 mm in January.
Between 7 and 10 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Elegant Sphinx sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is mostly seen at night.
Only Channel Islands National Park, in our data
Channel Islands National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Elegant Sphinx sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same family: Sphingidae
The closest relatives of the Elegant Sphinx that you can see in Channel Islands National Park (family Sphingidae, Sphinx Moths) are White-Lined Sphinx (about 20%) and Carolina Sphinx (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Elegant Sphinx is recorded against all the insects logged in Channel Islands National Park (8 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.
