Polites sabuleti
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
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 Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks on a given day, based on 21 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 54th most-seen of the 161 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.
July
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Sandhill Skipper in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks on a given day, against under 5% in September to May, the lowest months. That is one of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks's driest months, with about 20 mm of rain against 190 mm in January.
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.
3rd of 4
Of the 4 parks where we can rate Sandhill Skipper sightings, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks ranks 3rd at about 10%. The best odds are in Kluane National Park (Canada, about 20%) and Yosemite National Park (United States, about 20%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Sandhill Skipper is recorded against all the insects logged in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks (21 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.
