Phonipara canora
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
The Cuban grassquit (Phonipara canora) is a species of bird in the family Thraupidae, the tanagers and allies. It is endemic to Cuba. An introduced population is established on New Providence in the Bahamas. The Cuban grassquit was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin under the binomial name Loxia canora. He based his description on the "Brown Cheeked Grosbeak" that had been described by Peter Brown in 1776. Brown's illustration was from a live bird belonging to Marmaduke Tunstall which Brown mistakenly believed had come from Mexico. It only occurs in Cuba. By 1970 the species had been placed in the genus Tiaris, but a molecular phylogenetic study published in 2014 found that Tiaris was polyphyletic. Between 2016 and 2020 taxonomic systems moved the Cuban grassquit to the resurrected genus Phonipara that had been introduced in 1850 by the French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek phōnēs meaning "vocal" with the Latin parus meaning "tit". The specific epithet conora is from Latin canorus meaning "melodious".
Although traditionally placed with the buntings and New World sparrows... Wikipedia →
Call0:13
Cuba · 2025
© FREDERIC Lionel · XC994765 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Song0:33
Cuba · 2015
© Hans Matheve · XC256751 · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Recording0:07
Bahamas · 2023
© David Chernack · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ciénaga de Zapata | 🇨🇺 Cuba |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Basel Zoo | 🇨🇭 Switzerland | |
| 2 | Copenhagen Zoo | 🇩🇰 Denmark | |
| 3 | The Blue Planet | 🇩🇰 Denmark | |
| 4 | Zoo Miami | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | San Diego Zoo Safari Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Wilhelma | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 7 | Schönbrunn Zoo | 🇦🇹 Austria | |
| 8 | Budapest Zoo & Botanical Garden | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 9 | Frankfurt Zoological Garden | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 10 | Biotropica | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 11 | Newquay Zoo | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 12 | National Aviary | 🇺🇸 United States |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Cuban Grassquit sighting in Ciénaga de Zapata on a given day, based on 19 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 152nd most-seen of the 177 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Cuban Grassquit in Ciénaga de Zapata on a given day, against under 5% in July–August and October–May, the lowest months. That is one of Ciénaga de Zapata's wettest months, with about 150 mm of rain against 15 mm in February. September has too few records to rate.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Cuban Grassquit sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Ciénaga de Zapata, in our data
Ciénaga de Zapata is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Cuban Grassquit sightings: under 5% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same family: Thraupidae
The closest relatives of the Cuban Grassquit that you can see in Ciénaga de Zapata (family Thraupidae, Tanagers and Allies) are Yellow-faced Grassquit (about 30%) and Cuban Bullfinch (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Cuban Grassquit is recorded against all the birds logged in Ciénaga de Zapata (19 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.
