Troides aeacus
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
Troides aeacus, the golden birdwing, is a large tropical butterfly belonging to the swallowtail family, Papilionidae. Troides aeacus has a wingspan of about 150–170 millimetres (5.9–6.7 in) but can be as large as 194 mm. In the males the forewings are black, with veins bordered by a whitish colour, while the hindwings are bright yellow. The underside of the wings is quite similar to the upside. The females are larger than the males and have dark-brown or black wings. The head, thorax and abdomen of this butterfly are mainly black, with small red patches on the thorax and a yellow underside of the abdomen. Caterpillars are pale brown, with long protrusions resembling thorns. They mainly feed on Aristolochia and Thottea species (Aristolochiaceae).
Troides aeacus closely resembles Troides helena cerebrus and differs as follows: Upperside, forewing: the pale adnervular streaks more prominent, in some specimens extended into the cell along the outer half of the subcostal and of the median nervules.
Hindwing: the cone-shaped terminal black markings in interspaces 2, 3, and 4 more or less broadly bordered on the inner side by a dusky area that is irrorated with blackish... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cuc Phuong National Park | 🇻🇳 Vietnam | |
| 2 | Cat Tien National Park | 🇻🇳 Vietnam | |
| 3 | Khao Yai National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 4 | Kaeng Krachan National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 5 | Taroko National Park | 🇹🇼 Taiwan |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Phnom Penh | 🇰🇭 Cambodia | |
| 2 | Guwahati | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Ho Chi Minh City | 🇻🇳 Vietnam | |
| 4 | Bangkok | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 5 | Kuala Lumpur | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 6 | Hong Kong | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 7 | Singapore | 🇸🇬 Singapore |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Golden Birdwing sighting in Bangkok on a given day, based on 56 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 42nd most-seen of the 245 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
October
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Golden Birdwing in Bangkok on a given day, against under 5% in February to June, the lowest months. That is one of Bangkok's wettest months, with about 200 mm of rain against 10 mm in December.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Golden Birdwing sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
4th of 7
Of the 7 cities where we can rate Golden Birdwing sightings, Bangkok ranks 4th at about 10%. The best odds are in Phnom Penh (Cambodia, about 20%), Guwahati (India, about 10%) and Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam, about 10%).
Same family: Papilionidae
The closest relatives of the Golden Birdwing that you can see in Bangkok (family Papilionidae, Swallowtails and Parnassians) are Lime Swallowtail (about 20%), Common Jay (about 10%) and Common Mormon Swallowtail (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Golden Birdwing is recorded against all the insects logged in Bangkok (56 verified sightings), 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.
