Lon melane
In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%
Lon melane, also known as the umber skipper, is a butterfly of the family Hesperiidae. It is found in California (west of the Sierra Nevada divide), southern Arizona, Baja California, the highlands of Mexico and Central America. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Channel Islands National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Francisco | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Los Angeles | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | San Diego | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Sacramento | 🇺🇸 United States |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report an Umber Skipper sighting in San Francisco on a given day, based on 2,440 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 3rd most-seen of the 737 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.
May and September–October
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report an Umber Skipper in San Francisco on a given day, against under 5% in December to March, the lowest months. Those are among San Francisco's driest months, with about 15 mm of rain a month against 110 mm in December.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Umber Skipper sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 4 cities where we can rate Umber Skipper sightings, San Francisco has the highest daily chance: about 20%. Next come Los Angeles (United States, about 10%) and San Diego (United States, about 10%).
Same family: Hesperiidae
The closest relatives of the Umber Skipper that you can see in San Francisco (family Hesperiidae, Skippers) are Fiery Skipper (about 20%), Common Checkered-Skipper (about 10%) and Sandhill Skipper (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Umber Skipper is recorded against all the insects logged in San Francisco (2,440 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.
