Passerina ciris
Silhouette: Jonah Duckles · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
The painted bunting (Passerina ciris) is a species of bird in the cardinal family, Cardinalidae. It is native to North America. The bright plumage of the male develops beginning in the second year of life; in the first year, they can be distinguished from the female only by close inspection.
The painted bunting was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Emberiza ciris. Linnaeus based his account mainly on the "Painted Finch" that had been described and illustrated in 1730 by the English naturalist Mark Catesby in his book The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands. Linnaeus specified the type locality as America but this was restricted to the state of South Carolina by the American Ornithologists' Union in 1931. The specific epithet ciris is the Latin name for a mythical bird, from Ancient Greek κειρις/keiris for an unidentified bird. The painted bunting is now one of seven species placed in the genus Passerina that was introduced in 1816 by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot.
Two subspecies are recognised: Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | León | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 2 | San Antonio | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Austin | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Dallas | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Guadalajara | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 6 | Guatemala City | 🇬🇹 Guatemala | |
| 7 | San Pedro Sula | 🇭🇳 Honduras | |
| 8 | Orlando | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | San Salvador | 🇸🇻 El Salvador | |
| 10 | Houston | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | National Zoological Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | ZooParc de Beauval | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 3 | Xcaret | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 4 | Chapultepec Zoo | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 5 | La Paz Waterfall Gardens | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 6 | Parque museo La Venta | 🇲🇽 Mexico |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Painted Bunting sighting in Cerro Azul Meámbar National Park on a given day, based on 79 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 147th most-seen of the 293 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January and February
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Painted Bunting in Cerro Azul Meámbar National Park on a given day, against under 5% in May to December, the lowest months. Those are among Cerro Azul Meámbar National Park's driest months, with about 110 mm of rain a month against 360 mm in September.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Painted Bunting sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
4th of 36
Of the 36 parks where we can rate Painted Bunting sightings, Cerro Azul Meámbar National Park ranks 4th at about 10%. The best odds are in Big Bend National Park (United States, about 20%), Arrecifes de Cozumel National Park (Mexico, about 20%) and El Triunfo (Mexico, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Painted Bunting is recorded against all the birds logged in Cerro Azul Meámbar National Park (79 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.
