Paonias excaecata
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
Paonias excaecata, the blinded sphinx, is a moth of the family Sphingidae. The species was first described by James Edward Smith in 1797. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Acadia National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Cape Breton Highlands National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 3 | Great Smoky Mountains National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Shenandoah National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Denver | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Boston | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Montreal | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 4 | Portland | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Edmonton | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 6 | Minneapolis [Saint Paul] | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Seattle | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Toronto | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 9 | Vancouver | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 10 | Washington | 🇺🇸 United States |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Blinded Sphinx sighting in Minneapolis [Saint Paul] on a given day, based on 19 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 300th most-seen of the 672 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Blinded Sphinx in Minneapolis [Saint Paul] on a given day, against under 5% in July to May, the lowest months. That is one of Minneapolis [Saint Paul]'s wettest months, with about 130 mm of rain against 20 mm in January.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Blinded Sphinx sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
6th of 12
Of the 12 cities where we can rate Blinded Sphinx sightings, Minneapolis [Saint Paul] ranks 6th at under 5%. The best odds are in Denver (United States, about 10%), Boston (United States, under 5%) and Montreal (Canada, under 5%).
Same family: Sphingidae
The closest relatives of the Blinded Sphinx that you can see in Minneapolis [Saint Paul] (family Sphingidae, Sphinx Moths) are White-Lined Sphinx (about 10%), Snowberry Clearwing (about 10%) and Hummingbird Clearwing (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Blinded Sphinx is recorded against all the insects logged in Minneapolis [Saint Paul] (19 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.
