Glaucopsyche lygdamus
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
Glaucopsyche lygdamus, the silvery blue, is a small butterfly native to North America. Its upperside is a light blue in males and a dull grayish blue in females. The underside is gray with a single row of round spots of differing sizes depending upon the region.
G. lygdamus is found over much of the western United States and most of Canada extending north excepting most of Nunavut and the high Arctic islands. Wingspan is from 18 to 28 mm. It occurs in a variety of habitats including alpine meadows, shale barrens, dunes, and wooded areas. It feeds on Lupinus plants.
The extinct Xerces blue (Glaucopsyche xerces) was once thought to be a subspecies of the silvery blue. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Elk Island National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 2 | Kluane National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 3 | Riding Mountain National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 4 | Jasper National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 5 | Gros Morne National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 6 | Banff National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 7 | Grand Teton National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Redwood National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Channel Islands National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Yellowstone National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 11 | Olympic National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 12 | Zion National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 13 | Rocky Mountain National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 14 | Joshua Tree National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 15 | Glacier National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 16 | Acadia National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 17 | Yosemite National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Edmonton | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 2 | Calgary | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 3 | Toronto | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 4 | Sacramento | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | San Diego | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Portland | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Montreal | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 8 | Los Angeles | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | San Francisco | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Silvery Blue sighting in Rocky Mountain National Park on a given day, based on 16 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 81st 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.
April to June
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Silvery Blue in Rocky Mountain National Park on a given day, against under 5% in July to March, the lowest months.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Silvery Blue 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 17
Of the 17 parks where we can rate Silvery Blue sightings, Rocky Mountain National Park ranks 13th at about 10%. The best odds are in Elk Island National Park (Canada, about 20%), Kluane National Park (Canada, about 20%) and Riding Mountain National Park (Canada, about 20%).
Same family: Lycaenidae
The closest relatives of the Silvery Blue that you can see in Rocky Mountain National Park (family Lycaenidae, Gossamer-winged Butterflies) are Arctic Blue (about 10%), Greenish Blue (about 10%) and Dorcas Copper (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Silvery Blue is recorded against all the insects logged in Rocky Mountain National Park (16 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.
