Polygonia comma
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~30%
Polygonia comma, the eastern comma, is a North American butterfly in the family Nymphalidae, subfamily Nymphalinae. This butterfly is seasonally variable. The upperside of the summer form's hindwings are all black, whereas the winter forms hindwings are reddish orange. The underside of both forms is striped with dark and light brown. There is a silvery comma mark in the middle of the hindwing in both forms. Its wingspan is 4.5–6.4 cm (1.8–2.5 in).
The eastern comma may be spotted in woods near rivers, ponds, marshes, swamps, and other water sources. This butterfly seldom visits flowers, but rather feeds on sap, rotting fruit, salts and minerals from puddling, and dung.
Caterpillars feed on paper birch (Betula papyrifera), false nettle (Boehmeria cylindrica), hackberry (Celtis occidentalis), hops (Humulus), wood nettle (Laportea canadensis), currants and gooseberries (Ribes spp.), basswood (Tilia americana), American elm (Ulmus americana), nettle (Urtica), and clearweed (Pilea pumila).
The green eggs are laid singly or in stacks under host plant leaves and stems. The spiny larva varies in color from... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shenandoah National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Great Smoky Mountains National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Point Pelee National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 4 | Congaree National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Riding Mountain National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Philadelphia | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Toronto | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 3 | Minneapolis [Saint Paul] | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Montreal | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 5 | Baltimore | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Washington | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Detroit | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Chicago | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | New York City | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Boston | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report an Eastern Comma sighting in Chicago on a given day, based on 127 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 125th most-seen of the 978 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.
March–April and June–November
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report an Eastern Comma in Chicago on a given day, against under 5% in May and December–February, the lowest months.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Eastern Comma sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 10 cities where we can rate Eastern Comma sightings, Chicago ranks 8th at about 10%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Philadelphia (United States, about 10%), Toronto (Canada, about 10%) and Minneapolis [Saint Paul] (United States, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Eastern Comma is recorded against all the insects logged in Chicago (127 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.
