Aeshna palmata
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
The paddle-tailed darner (Aeshna palmata) is a species of dragonfly in the family Aeshnidae. It is common throughout western Canada and United States. This species is named after its distinctive paddle-shaped appendages. It lives in many habitats, particularly lakes, ponds, and slow streams, usually with dense shore vegetation. Aeshna palmata was scientifically described for the first time in 1856 by Hermann Hagen. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rocky Mountain National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Grand Teton National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Glacier National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Jasper National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 5 | Great Bear Rainforest | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 6 | Banff National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 7 | Yosemite National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Olympic National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Yellowstone National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Paddle-Tailed Darner sighting in Yosemite National Park on a given day, based on 12 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 109th most-seen of the 227 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.
September
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Paddle-Tailed Darner in Yosemite National Park on a given day, against under 5% in October to June, the lowest months. That is one of Yosemite National Park's driest months, with about 25 mm of rain against 220 mm in January.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Paddle-Tailed Darner sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 9 parks where we can rate Paddle-Tailed Darner sightings, Yosemite National Park ranks 7th at about 10%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Rocky Mountain National Park (United States, about 10%), Grand Teton National Park (United States, about 10%) and Glacier National Park (United States, about 10%).
Same genus: Aeshna
The closest relatives of the Paddle-Tailed Darner that you can see in Yosemite National Park (genus Aeshna, Hawkers and Typical Darners) are Variable Darner (about 10%) and Shadow Darner (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Paddle-Tailed Darner is recorded against all the insects logged in Yosemite National Park (12 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.
