Polites sabuleti
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
Polites sabuleti, the sandhill skipper or saltgrass skipper, is a butterfly in the family Hesperiidae. It is found from southern British Columbia and eastern Washington, south through California and northern Arizona to Baja California and east to south-eastern Wyoming, central Colorado, and north-eastern New Mexico. It is an introduced species in Hawaii.
The wingspan is 22–32 mm. There is one generation with adults on wing from June to August at high elevations. There are several generations from March to October in the southern part of its range and at low elevations. The larvae feed on various grasses, including Cynodon dactylon, Poa pratensis, Distichlis spicata var. stricta, Eragrostis trichodes, Agrostis scabra, Festuca idahoensis, and Festuca brachyphylla. Adults feed on flower nectar. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kluane National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 2 | Yosemite National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Rocky Mountain National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Salt Lake City | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | San Francisco | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | San Diego | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Los Angeles | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Sandhill Skipper sighting in Rocky Mountain National Park on a given day, based on 18 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 72nd most-seen of the 191 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.
June–July and September
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Sandhill Skipper in Rocky Mountain National Park on a given day, against under 5% in August and October–May, the lowest months.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Sandhill Skipper 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 4
Of the 4 parks where we can rate Sandhill Skipper sightings, Rocky Mountain National Park ranks 4th at about 10%. The best odds are in Kluane National Park (Canada, about 20%), Yosemite National Park (United States, about 20%) and Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks (United States, about 10%).
Same family: Hesperiidae
The closest relatives of the Sandhill Skipper that you can see in Rocky Mountain National Park (family Hesperiidae, Skippers) are Russet Skipperling (about 10%), Persius Duskywing (about 10%) and Common Branded Skipper (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Sandhill Skipper is recorded against all the insects logged in Rocky Mountain National Park (18 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.
