Catocala nymphagoga
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
Catocala nymphagoga, the oak yellow underwing, is a moth of the family Erebidae. It is found in Southern Europe, from Bulgaria up to the Iberian Peninsula and sometimes further north as a migrant. It is also found in North Africa and Asia Minor.
Forewing grey more or less wholly suffused with blackish brown, the basal area, or at least its lower half, a costal patch beyond inner line, a streak from costa before outer line, and the submarginal line itself remaining pale; inner and outer lines velvety black, distinct, sometimes doubled; the inner oblique, dentate inwards on the veins; the outer biangulate externally (in vein 5, forming a deep sinus inwards, its end below the reniform pale, and an inward angle on vein 1: reniform indistinct, obscured by the brown median shade, with dark centre and outline; subterminal line waved, distinct, with darker dentate edges; hindwing yellow, with broad black terminal border, containing a small yellow spot at apex and a sinus inwardly in submedian interval: the median band narrow and straight, acutely or squarely angled on the submedian fold, the base of wing often darkened with olive fuscous; - the darkest... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sierra Nevada National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 2 | Cévennes National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 3 | Sierra de Guadarrama National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Madrid | 🇪🇸 Spain |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report an Oak Yellow Underwing sighting in Sierra de Guadarrama National Park on a given day, based on 33 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 130th most-seen of the 597 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.
July
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report an Oak Yellow Underwing in Sierra de Guadarrama National Park on a given day, against under 5% in August to May, the lowest months. That is one of Sierra de Guadarrama National Park's driest months, with about 20 mm of rain against 110 mm in November.
Between 11 pm and 2 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Oak Yellow Underwing sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is mostly seen at night.
Among the best
Of the 3 parks where we can rate Oak Yellow Underwing sightings, Sierra de Guadarrama National Park ranks 3rd at about 10%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Sierra Nevada National Park (Spain, about 10%) and Cévennes National Park (France, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Oak Yellow Underwing is recorded against all the insects logged in Sierra de Guadarrama 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.
