Setophaga townsendi
Silhouette: Dylan GE Gomes · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
Townsend's warbler (Setophaga townsendi) is a small songbird of the New World warbler family. Townsend's warbler was formally described in 1837 by the American naturalist John Kirk Townsend under the binomial name Sylvia townsendi. The type locality is Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River in the state of Washington. After the merger of the genera Dendroica and Setophaga, Townsend's warbler is now placed in the genus Setophaga that was introduced by the English naturalist William Swainson in 1827. The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.
Townsend's warbler has a yellow face with a black stripe across its cheeks extending into an ear patch, a thin pointed bill, two white wing bars, olive upperparts with black streaks on their backs and flanks, and a white belly. Adult males have a black cap, black throat and yellow lower breast; females have a dark cap and a yellow throat. Immature birds are similar to females with a dark green cap and cheeks.
Their breeding habitats are coniferous forests with large trees on the northwestern coast of North America. Their nests are shallow cups built with grass and lined with moss. These... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Toluca | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 2 | San Francisco | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Tijuana | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 4 | Mexico City | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 5 | Guatemala City | 🇬🇹 Guatemala | |
| 6 | Los Angeles | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | San Diego | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Portland | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Guadalajara | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 10 | Puebla | 🇲🇽 México |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Townsend's Warbler sighting in Big Bend National Park on a given day, based on 692 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 65th most-seen of the 270 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August and September
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Townsend's Warbler in Big Bend National Park on a given day, against under 5% in June–July and October–March, the lowest months. Those are among Big Bend National Park's wettest months, with about 50 mm of rain a month against 10 mm in April.
Between 1 and 4 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Townsend's Warbler sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
9th of 42
Of the 42 parks where we can rate Townsend's Warbler sightings, Big Bend National Park ranks 9th at about 10%. The best odds are in Reserva de la Biosfera Mariposa Monarca (Mexico, about 50%), El Triunfo (Mexico, about 40%) and Pacific Rim National Park Reserve (Canada, about 30%). All parks ranked.
Same genus: Setophaga
The closest relatives of the Townsend's Warbler that you can see in Big Bend National Park (genus Setophaga, Setophaga Warblers) are Yellow-rumped Warbler (about 50%), Audubon's Warbler (about 20%) and Yellow Warbler (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Townsend's Warbler is recorded against all the birds logged in Big Bend National Park (692 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.
