Paonias excaecata
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
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 |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Blinded Sphinx sighting in Great Smoky Mountains National Park on a given day, based on 50 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 100th most-seen of the 822 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Blinded Sphinx in Great Smoky Mountains National Park on a given day, against under 5% in November to April, the lowest months.
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.
3rd of 4
Of the 4 parks where we can rate Blinded Sphinx sightings, Great Smoky Mountains National Park ranks 3rd at about 10%. The best odds are in Acadia National Park (United States, about 20%) and Cape Breton Highlands National Park (Canada, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Blinded Sphinx is recorded against all the insects logged in Great Smoky Mountains National Park (50 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
