Heliconius hecale
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
Heliconius hecale, the tiger longwing, Hecale longwing, golden longwing or golden heliconian, is a heliconiid butterfly that occurs from Mexico to the Peruvian Amazon. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Soberanía National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 2 | Santa Rosa National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 3 | Lago de Yojoa | 🇭🇳 Honduras | |
| 4 | Cabo Blanco Absolute Nature Reserve | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 5 | Braulio Carrillo National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 6 | Piedras Blancas National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 7 | Carara National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 8 | Cerro Azul Meámbar National Park | 🇭🇳 Honduras | |
| 9 | Parque Natural Metropolitano | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 10 | Arenal Volcano National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 11 | Tenorio Volcano National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 12 | Tortuguero National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 13 | Ostional Wildlife Refuge | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 14 | Corcovado National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 15 | Marino Ballena National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 16 | Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 17 | Manu National Park | 🇵🇪 Peru | |
| 18 | Manuel Antonio National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 19 | La Amistad International Park (Panama) | 🇵🇦 Panama |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San José | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 2 | San Salvador | 🇸🇻 El Salvador | |
| 3 | Panama City | 🇵🇦 Panama |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Tiger Longwing sighting in Ostional Wildlife Refuge on a given day, based on 5 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 40th most-seen of the 47 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.
October
In that month about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Tiger Longwing in Ostional Wildlife Refuge on a given day, against under 5% in January and March–September, the lowest months. That is one of Ostional Wildlife Refuge's wettest months, with about 560 mm of rain against 15 mm in February.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Tiger Longwing sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
13th of 19
Of the 19 parks where we can rate Tiger Longwing sightings, Ostional Wildlife Refuge ranks 13th at about 10%. The best odds are in Soberanía National Park (Panama, about 20%), Santa Rosa National Park (Costa Rica, about 20%) and Lago de Yojoa (Honduras, about 20%).
Same family: Nymphalidae
The closest relatives of the Tiger Longwing that you can see in Ostional Wildlife Refuge (family Nymphalidae, Brush-footed Butterflies) are Banded Peacock (about 60%), Malachite (about 40%) and Gulf Fritillary (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Tiger Longwing is recorded against all the insects logged in Ostional Wildlife Refuge (5 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.
