Cistothorus palustris
Silhouette: Matt Wilkins · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5%
The marsh wren (Cistothorus palustris) is a small North American songbird of the wren family. It was formerly called the long-billed marsh wren to distinguish it from the sedge wren, then known as the short-billed marsh wren.
The marsh wren was described by the Scottish-American ornithologist Alexander Wilson in 1810 and given the binomial name Certhia palustris. The current genus Cistothorus was introduced by the German ornithologist Jean Cabanis in 1850. There are 15 recognised subspecies.
Etymology: from Greek 'κιστος' (cistos, "a shrub") and 'θουρος' (thouros, "leaping, or running through") and Latin 'palustris' ("marshy"). Adults have brown upperparts with a light brown belly and flanks and a white throat and breast. The back is black with white stripes. They have a dark cap with a white line over the eyes and a short thin bill.
The male's song is a loud gurgle used to declare ownership of territory; western males have a more varied repertoire. This little bird is native to Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Their breeding habitat is marshes with tall vegetation such as cattails across North America. In the western United States, some birds... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seattle | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | León | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 3 | San Francisco | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Mexico City | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 5 | Mesa | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Los Angeles | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Toluca | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 8 | Vancouver | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 9 | Las Vegas | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | San Diego | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ralph Perkins II Wildlife Center and Woods Garden | 🇺🇸 United States |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Marsh Wren sighting in Banff National Park on a given day, based on 16 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 160th most-seen of the 191 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Marsh Wren in Banff National Park on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Marsh Wren sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
19th of 26
Of the 26 parks where we can rate Marsh Wren sightings, Banff National Park ranks 19th at under 5%. The best odds are in Death Valley National Park (United States, about 30%), Channel Islands National Park (United States, about 20%) and El Vizcaíno Biosphere Reserve (Mexico, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Marsh Wren is recorded against all the birds logged in Banff National Park (16 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.
