Orthetrum caffrum
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
Orthetrum caffrum, the two-striped skimmer or white-lined skimmer, is a species of dragonfly in the family Libellulidae. It is found in Angola, Cameroon, Chad, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, possibly Burundi, and possibly Gambia. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical moist montane forests, subtropical or tropical high-altitude shrubland, rivers, shrub-dominated wetlands, freshwater springs, and Alpine wetlands. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Addo Elephant National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | Garden Route National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | Table Mountain National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Johannesburg | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | Pretoria | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | Cape Town | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Two-Striped Skimmer sighting in Cape Town on a given day, based on 21 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 153rd most-seen of the 311 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
October to December
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Two-Striped Skimmer in Cape Town on a given day, against under 5% in January to September, the lowest months.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Two-Striped Skimmer sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
3rd of 3
Of the 3 cities where we can rate Two-Striped Skimmer sightings, Cape Town ranks 3rd at under 5%. The best odds are in Johannesburg (South Africa, about 10%) and Pretoria (South Africa, about 10%).
Same genus: Orthetrum
The closest relatives of the Two-Striped Skimmer that you can see in Cape Town (genus Orthetrum) are Julia Skimmer (about 20%) and Long Skimmer (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Two-Striped Skimmer is recorded against all the insects logged in Cape Town (21 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.
