Euploea tulliolus
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
Euploea tulliolus, the dwarf crow or small brown crow, is a butterfly found in the Solomon Islands, Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam, Singapore and Australia, that belongs to the crows and tigers, that is, the danaid group of the brush-footed butterflies family. It has a wingspan of about 4 to 8 centimeters.
Due to the purple iridescence of the butterfly under sunlight, the butterfly is also commonly referred to as the purple crow. The Taiwanese population (subspecies E. t. koxinga) engages in a mass migration from the north of Taiwan to the south and back again. During the migration the main highway blocking their route has protective netting put in place and butterfly numbers are tracked with traffic restricted during the peak of the swarm's crossing. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cuc Phuong National Park | 🇻🇳 Vietnam | |
| 2 | Cat Tien National Park | 🇻🇳 Vietnam | |
| 3 | Noosa National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 4 | Taroko National Park | 🇹🇼 Taiwan | |
| 5 | Lamington National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 6 | Springbrook National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Purple Crow Butterfly sighting in Taipei on a given day, based on 275 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 38th most-seen of the 765 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.
September
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Purple Crow Butterfly in Taipei on a given day, against about 10% in June and December–April, the lowest months. That is one of Taipei's wettest months, with about 240 mm of rain against 90 mm in February.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Purple Crow Butterfly 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 4 cities where we can rate Purple Crow Butterfly sightings, Taipei ranks 2nd at about 20%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Kaohsiung (Taiwan, about 20%).
Same genus: Euploea
The closest relatives of the Purple Crow Butterfly that you can see in Taipei (genus Euploea, Crow Butterflies) are Striped Blue Crow (about 10%) and Double-Branded Crow Butterfly (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Purple Crow Butterfly is recorded against all the insects logged in Taipei (275 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.
