Heliconius hecalesia
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
Heliconius hecalesia, the five-spotted longwing, is a species of butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found from Central America to Venezuela and Ecuador. The wingspan is 50–61 mm. Adults feed on flower nectar. The larvae feed on plants from the subgenera Tryphostemmatoides and Plectostemma, including Passiflora biflora and Passiflora lancearea. They are gregarious. Pupation takes place in a slate grey pupa with black markings. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rincón de la Vieja National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 2 | Tortuguero National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 3 | Lago de Yojoa | 🇭🇳 Honduras | |
| 4 | Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 5 | Braulio Carrillo National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 6 | Arenal Volcano National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 7 | La Amistad International Park (Panama) | 🇵🇦 Panama |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Five-Spotted Heliconian sighting in Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve on a given day, based on 27 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 106th most-seen of the 506 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May and June
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Five-Spotted Heliconian in Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve on a given day, against under 5% in January, April and September, the lowest months.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Five-Spotted Heliconian sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
4th of 7
Of the 7 parks where we can rate Five-Spotted Heliconian sightings, Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve ranks 4th at about 10%. The best odds are in Rincón de la Vieja National Park (Costa Rica, about 20%), Tortuguero National Park (Costa Rica, about 10%) and Lago de Yojoa (Honduras, about 10%).
Same genus: Heliconius
The closest relatives of the Five-Spotted Heliconian that you can see in Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve (genus Heliconius, Longwings and Heliconians) are Clysonymus Longwing (about 30%), Tiger Longwing (about 10%) and Zebra Longwing (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Five-Spotted Heliconian is recorded against all the insects logged in Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve (27 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.
