Setophaga tigrina
Silhouette: Dylan GE Gomes · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~70% in a week >90%
The Cape May warbler (Setophaga tigrina) is a species of New World warbler. It breeds in northern North America. Its breeding range spans all but the westernmost parts of southern Canada, the Great Lakes region, and New England. It is migratory, wintering in the West Indies. This species is a very rare vagrant to western Europe, with two records in Britain as of October 2013. The English name refers to Cape May, New Jersey, where George Ord collected the specimen that was later described by Alexander Wilson.
The Cape May warbler was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it in the genus Motacilla and coined the binomial name Motacilla tigrina. The specific epithet is from Latin tigrinus meaning "tigrine" or "barred or striped like a tiger". Gmelin based his account on "The yellow spotted fly-catcher" that had been described by the English naturalist George Edwards in 1758, and "Le figuier brun de Canada" that had been described by French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760. The Cape May warbler is now one of more than 30 species placed in the genus... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Santo Domingo | 🇩🇴 Dominican Republic | |
| 2 | Managua | 🇳🇮 Nicaragua | |
| 3 | Miami | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Havana | 🇨🇺 Cuba | |
| 5 | Chicago | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Toronto | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 7 | Orlando | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Baltimore | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | New York City | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Montreal | 🇨🇦 Canada |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ralph Perkins II Wildlife Center and Woods Garden | 🇺🇸 United States |
Likely
About 40% of wildlife watchers report a Cape May Warbler sighting in Ciénaga de Zapata on a given day, based on 599 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 30th most-seen of the 177 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 70%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February
In that month about 50% of wildlife watchers report a Cape May Warbler in Ciénaga de Zapata on a given day, against about 10% in May and July–August, the lowest months. That is one of Ciénaga de Zapata's driest months, with about 15 mm of rain against 150 mm in June. September has too few records to rate.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Cape May 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.
Among the best
Of the 30 parks where we can rate Cape May Warbler sightings, Ciénaga de Zapata ranks 2nd at about 40%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Point Pelee National Park (Canada, about 40%).
Same genus: Setophaga
The closest relatives of the Cape May Warbler that you can see in Ciénaga de Zapata (genus Setophaga, Setophaga Warblers) are American Redstart (about 60%), Palm Warbler (about 60%) and Northern Parula (about 50%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Cape May Warbler is recorded against all the birds logged in Ciénaga de Zapata (599 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.
