Cercyonis pegala
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
The common wood-nymph (Cercyonis pegala) is a North American species of butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is also known as the wood-nymph, grayling, blue-eyed grayling, and the goggle eye. All individuals are brown with two eyespots on each forewing – the lower one often being larger than the upper one. Some may have many, few, or no eyespots on the ventral surface of the hindwing. In the southeastern part of its range, it has a large yellow... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Elk Island National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 2 | Isle Royale National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Riding Mountain National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 4 | Acadia National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Redwood National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Shenandoah National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Grand Teton National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Great Smoky Mountains National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Glacier National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Great Bear Rainforest | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 11 | Olympic National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Edmonton | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 2 | Calgary | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 3 | Toronto | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 4 | Portland | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Chicago | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Denver | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Washington | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Boston | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Montreal | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 10 | New York City | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Common Wood-Nymph sighting in Shenandoah National Park on a given day, based on 33 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 120th most-seen of the 723 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 and August
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Common Wood-Nymph in Shenandoah National Park on a given day, against under 5% in October to June, the lowest months.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Common Wood-Nymph sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
6th of 11
Of the 11 parks where we can rate Common Wood-Nymph sightings, Shenandoah National Park ranks 6th at about 10%. The best odds are in Elk Island National Park (Canada, about 20%), Isle Royale National Park (United States, about 20%) and Riding Mountain National Park (Canada, about 10%).
Same family: Nymphalidae
The closest relatives of the Common Wood-Nymph that you can see in Shenandoah National Park (family Nymphalidae, Brush-footed Butterflies) are Monarch (about 40%), Eastern Comma (about 30%) and Great Spangled Fritillary (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Common Wood-Nymph is recorded against all the insects logged in Shenandoah National Park (33 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.
