Common Sailer
Daily sighting probability ~20% · Possible
at Colombo [Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte]

In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%

48 Verified sightings at Colombo [Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte]
84 In all 10 parks From 2019 to 2026
February Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Common Sailer

Neptis hylas, the common sailor, is a species of nymphalid butterfly found in the Indian subcontinent and southeast Asia. It has a characteristic stiff gliding flight achieved by short and shallow wingbeats just above the horizontal. It is also present in Italy in a humid limited zone near Gorizia and Slovenia.

Bengali name: চরবাতাসি Dry-season form - Upperside black, with pure white markings. Forewing discoidal streak clavate (club shaped), apically truncate, subapically either notched or sometimes indistinctly divided; triangular spot beyond broad, well defined, acute at apex, but not elongate; discal series of spots separate, not connate (united), each about twice as long as broad; postdiscal transverse series of small spots incomplete, but some are always present. Hindwing: subbasal band of even or nearly oven width; discal and subterminal pale lines obscure; postdiscal series of spots well separated, quadrate or subquadrate, very seldom narrow. Underside from pale golden ochraceous to dark ochraceous almost chocolate; white markings as on the upperside, but broader and defined in black. Forewing: interspaces 1a and 1 from base to near the apex shaded with black... Wikipedia →

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Kanha National Park 🇮🇳 India
~30%
2 Bandhavgarh National Park 🇮🇳 India
~30%
3 Periyar National Park 🇮🇳 India
~30%
4 Udawalawe National Park 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
~20%
5 Nagarhole National Park 🇮🇳 India
~20%
6 Minneriya National Park 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
~20%
7 Sinharaja Forest Reserve 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
~10%
8 Cat Tien National Park 🇻🇳 Vietnam
~10%
9 Khao Yai National Park 🇹🇭 Thailand
~10%
10 Kaeng Krachan National Park 🇹🇭 Thailand
~10%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Salem 🇮🇳 India
~30%
2 Jabalpur 🇮🇳 India
~30%
3 Jamshedpur 🇮🇳 India
~30%
4 Tuen Mun 🇨🇳 China
~30%
5 Visakhapatnam 🇮🇳 India
~20%
6 Naha 🇯🇵 Japan
~20%
7 Kozhikode 🇮🇳 India
~20%
8 Kalyan-Dombivli 🇮🇳 India
~20%
9 Ponnani 🇮🇳 India
~20%
10 Yogyakarta 🇮🇩 Indonesia
~20%

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Common Sailer in Colombo [Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte]?

Possible

About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Common Sailer sighting in Colombo [Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte] on a given day, based on 48 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 23rd most-seen of the 182 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 50%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Common Sailer in Colombo [Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte]?

February

In that month about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Common Sailer in Colombo [Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte] on a given day, against under 5% in October, the lowest month. That is one of Colombo [Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte]'s driest months, with about 70 mm of rain against 310 mm in November.

What time of day is best to see a Common Sailer?

Between 10 am and 1 pm

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Common Sailer sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.

Is Colombo [Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte] the best place to see a Common Sailer?

12th of 35

Of the 35 cities where we can rate Common Sailer sightings, Colombo [Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte] ranks 12th at about 20%. The best odds are in Salem (India, about 30%), Jabalpur (India, about 30%) and Jamshedpur (India, about 30%).

Which relatives of the Common Sailer live in Colombo [Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte]?

Same family: Nymphalidae

The closest relatives of the Common Sailer that you can see in Colombo [Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte] (family Nymphalidae, Brush-footed Butterflies) are Common Palmfly (about 30%), White Four Ring (about 30%) and Common Crow (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.

Where does the Common Sailer sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Common Sailer is recorded against all the insects logged in Colombo [Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte] (48 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.

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