Quercusia quercus
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
The purple hairstreak (Favonius quercus) is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae distributed throughout much of Europe, North Africa, Anatolia, Caucasia, and Transcaucasia. The larva feeds on Quercus robur, Quercus petraea, Quercus cerris and Quercus ilex.
Z. quercus L. (74 c, d). male above with a blue gloss and narrow black distal border, the female with the basal area of the forewing blue and often the cell of the hindwing bluish. Underside leaden-grey, with a proximally dark-edged white line before the outer third and in the anal area of the hindwing weak yellow spots. ab. obsoleta Tutt are females without any blue gloss; there occur also transitional specimens with the blue reduced (semiobsoleta). ab. pallescens Tutt are males with a pale grey greenish instead of blue gloss. In ab. excessus Tutt the hindmargin of the forewing bears a coppery streak. Courvoisier proposes the name ab. latefasciata... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sierra Nevada National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 2 | Cévennes National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 3 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 4 | Bavarian Forest National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 5 | Sierra de Guadarrama National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kharkiv | 🇺🇦 Ukraine | |
| 2 | London | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 3 | Prague | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 4 | Birmingham | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 5 | Copenhagen | 🇩🇰 Denmark | |
| 6 | Berlin | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 7 | Paris | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 8 | Munich | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 9 | Moscow | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 10 | Vienna | 🇦🇹 Austria |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Purple Hairstreak sighting in Sierra Nevada National Park on a given day, based on 6 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 330th most-seen of the 479 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Purple Hairstreak in Sierra Nevada 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 Purple Hairstreak sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 5 parks where we can rate Purple Hairstreak sightings, Sierra Nevada National Park has the highest daily chance: about 10%. Next come Cévennes National Park (France, about 10%) and Pyrénées National Park (France, about 10%).
Same family: Lycaenidae
The closest relatives of the Purple Hairstreak that you can see in Sierra Nevada National Park (family Lycaenidae, Gossamer-winged Butterflies) are Small Copper (about 30%), Baton Blue (about 30%) and Pea Blue (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Purple Hairstreak is recorded against all the insects logged in Sierra Nevada National Park (6 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.
