Junonia grisea
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
Junonia grisea, also known as the gray buckeye, grey buckeye, or Western buckeye, is a species in the butterfly family Nymphalidae. It is found in North America, west of the Rocky Mountains. Like the common buckeye, the gray buckeye is a brown butterfly with eyespots on its wings that distract predators from its body.
Junonia grisea was formerly considered a subspecies of the common buckeye, Junonia coenia, called Junonia coenia grisea. The gray buckeye's status as a separate species was discovered in 2018 by Dr. Jeffrey Marcus, an entomologist at the University of Manitoba, and Melanie Lalonde, a graduate student. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Redwood National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Saguaro National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Yosemite National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Zion National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Grand Canyon National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Channel Islands National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Joshua Tree National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sacramento | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | San Francisco | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Los Angeles | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | San Diego | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Phoenix | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Mesa | 🇺🇸 United States |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Gray Buckeye sighting in Sacramento on a given day, based on 215 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 27th most-seen of the 386 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Gray Buckeye in Sacramento on a given day, against under 5% in December to March, the lowest months. That is one of Sacramento's driest months, with about 5 mm of rain against 120 mm in December.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Gray Buckeye 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 6 cities where we can rate Gray Buckeye sightings, Sacramento has the highest daily chance: about 20%. Next come San Francisco (United States, about 20%) and Los Angeles (United States, about 10%).
Same family: Nymphalidae
The closest relatives of the Gray Buckeye that you can see in Sacramento (family Nymphalidae, Brush-footed Butterflies) are Gulf Fritillary (about 30%), Painted Lady (about 20%) and Lorquin's Admiral (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Gray Buckeye is recorded against all the insects logged in Sacramento (215 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.
