Prunella modularis
Silhouette: Matt Wilkins · PhyloPic
In 3 days >90%
The dunnock (Prunella modularis) is a small passerine, or perching bird, found throughout temperate Europe and into Asian Russia. Dunnocks have also been introduced and become common in New Zealand. It is the most widespread member of the accentor family; most other accentors are limited to mountain habitats. Other, largely archaic, English names for the dunnock include hedge accentor, hedge sparrow, hedge warbler, and titling.
The dunnock was described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. He coined the binomial name of Motacilla modularis. The specific epithet is from the Latin modularis "modulating" or "singing". This species is now placed in the genus Prunella that was introduced by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1816.
The name "dunnock" comes from the English dun (dingy brown, dark-coloured) and the diminutive form of bird ock (thus, the original "little brown bird"), while "accentor" is from post-classical Latin and means a person who sings with another. The genus name Prunella is from the German Braunelle, "dunnock", a diminutive of braun, "brown".
Seven subspecies are accepted by the IOC... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 2 | Manchester | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 3 | Birmingham | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 4 | London | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 5 | Leeds | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 6 | Cologne | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 7 | Dublin | 🇮🇪 Ireland | |
| 8 | Essen | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 9 | Brussels | 🇧🇪 Belgium | |
| 10 | Paris | 🇫🇷 France |
Very likely
About 70% of wildlife watchers report a Dunnock sighting in Aoraki Mount Cook National Park on a given day, based on 302 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 6th most-seen of the 36 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September
In that month over 90% of wildlife watchers report a Dunnock in Aoraki Mount Cook National Park on a given day, against about 50% in June and July, the lowest months.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Dunnock 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 31 parks where we can rate Dunnock sightings, Aoraki Mount Cook National Park has the highest daily chance: about 70%. Next come Arthur's Pass National Park (New Zealand, about 50%) and Snowdonia National Park (United Kingdom, about 50%). All parks ranked.
Same order: Passeriformes
The closest relatives of the Dunnock that you can see in Aoraki Mount Cook National Park (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are Chaffinch (about 90%), Eurasian Blackbird (about 90%) and Grey Warbler (about 80%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Dunnock is recorded against all the birds logged in Aoraki Mount Cook National Park (302 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.
