Euphyes vestris
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
Euphyes vestris, commonly referred to as the dun skipper, is a butterfly belonging to the Hesperiidae family. It appears as a brown, medium-sized butterfly found across the United States and southern Canada. Euphyes vestris inhabits multiple environments, including open fields, oak woodlands, and riparian wetlands. There are currently four recorded subspecies of Euphyes vestris, three of which have been identified across eatern, western, and mountainous regions of North America. The fourth subspecies, Euphyes vestris harbisoni, known as the Harbison's dun skipper is geographically restricted to southern California and northern Mexico.
The dun skipper, Euphyes vestris, is categorized within the genus Euphyes, a known group of ten closely related skippers found in North America. Species belonging to this genus live in environments with high humidity, such as swampy habitats, and occur in small populations. Across its subspecies it has been recognized that E. vestris relies on sedges, which are plants in the family Cyperaceae, as host plants for its larval development.
Euphyes vestris belongs to the... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Congaree National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Acadia National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Zion National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Point Pelee National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 5 | Shenandoah National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Great Smoky Mountains National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Toronto | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 2 | San Antonio | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Baltimore | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Austin | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Philadelphia | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Boston | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Houston | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Washington | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | New York City | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Montreal | 🇨🇦 Canada |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Dun Skipper sighting in Zion National Park on a given day, based on 7 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 75th most-seen of the 114 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 a Dun Skipper in Zion National Park on a given day, against under 5% in August to May, the lowest months. That is one of Zion National Park's driest months, with about 20 mm of rain against 75 mm in March.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Dun Skipper sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
3rd of 6
Of the 6 parks where we can rate Dun Skipper sightings, Zion National Park ranks 3rd at about 10%. The best odds are in Congaree National Park (United States, about 20%) and Acadia National Park (United States, about 10%).
Same family: Hesperiidae
The closest relatives of the Dun Skipper that you can see in Zion National Park (family Hesperiidae, Skippers) are Rocky Mountain Duskywing (about 10%), Taxiles Skipper (about 10%) and Woodland Skipper (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Dun Skipper is recorded against all the insects logged in Zion National Park (7 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.
