Vespula flavopilosa
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
Vespula flavopilosa, also known as the downy yellowjacket, is a species of yellowjacket found in North America. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shenandoah National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Great Smoky Mountains National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Acadia National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boston | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Baltimore | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | New York City | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Washington | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Minneapolis [Saint Paul] | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Philadelphia | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Montreal | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 8 | Chicago | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Toronto | 🇨🇦 Canada |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Downy Yellowjacket sighting in Boston on a given day, based on 77 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 190th most-seen of the 1200 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May and August–November
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Downy Yellowjacket in Boston on a given day, against under 5% in June–July and December–April, the lowest months.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Downy Yellowjacket sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 9 cities where we can rate Downy Yellowjacket sightings, Boston has the highest daily chance: about 10%. Next come Baltimore (United States, under 5%) and New York City (United States, under 5%).
Same genus: Vespula
The closest relatives of the Downy Yellowjacket that you can see in Boston (genus Vespula, Ground Yellowjackets) are Eastern Yellowjacket (about 20%), German Yellowjacket (about 10%) and Widow Yellowjacket (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Downy Yellowjacket is recorded against all the insects logged in Boston (77 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.
