Celastrina ladon
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
Celastrina ladon, the spring azure or echo blue, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is found in North America from Alaska and Canada south of the tundra, through most of the United States except the Texas coast, southern plain and peninsula Florida; south in the mountains to Colombia, also on Molokai island, Hawaii.
Since the publication of a monograph on the Lycaenopsis group of lycaenid genera in 1983 by Eliot & Kawazoe, C. ladon has been considered by some taxonomic authorities to be a subspecies of C. argiolus (Linnaeus, 1758). Other authorities still consider C. ladon and related species C. neglecta and C. serotina to be "full" species.
Its wingspan is 22–35 millimetres (0.87–1.38 in). The metallic blue wings have a black margin in females. The undersides of the wings are white with speckles. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Yosemite National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Channel Islands National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Redwood National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Guadalupe Mountains National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Los Quetzales National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 7 | Grand Canyon National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Olympic National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Saguaro National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Great Smoky Mountains National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 11 | Great Bear Rainforest | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 12 | Grand Teton National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 13 | Rocky Mountain National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 14 | Cumbres de Monterrey National Park | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 15 | Zion National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 16 | Pacific Rim National Park Reserve | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 17 | Glacier National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 18 | Big Bend National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Toluca | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 2 | Seattle | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Mexico City | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 4 | San Francisco | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Vancouver | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 6 | Philadelphia | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Portland | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Chicago | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Boston | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Washington | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Spring Azure sighting in Seattle on a given day, based on 110 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 53rd most-seen of the 428 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Spring Azure in Seattle on a given day, against under 5% in May and August–March, the lowest months. That is one of Seattle's driest months, with about 20 mm of rain against 190 mm in November.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Spring Azure sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 12 cities where we can rate Spring Azure sightings, Seattle ranks 2nd at about 10%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Toluca (México, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Spring Azure is recorded against all the insects logged in Seattle (110 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.
