Spiza americana
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
The dickcissel (Spiza americana) is a small seed-eating migratory bird in the family Cardinalidae. It breeds on the prairie grasslands of the Midwestern United States and winters in Central America, northern Colombia, and northern Venezuela. It is the only member of the genus Spiza, though some sources list another supposedly extinct species.
The dickcissel was formally described in 1789 by German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin under the binomial name Emberiza americana. Gmelin based his account on the "black-throated bunting" that the Welsh naturalist Thomas Pennant had described and illustrated in 1785 in his Arctic Zoology. The dickcissel is now the only species placed in the genus Spiza that was introduced in 1824 by French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte. The genus name Spiza is the Ancient Greek word for a common type of finch, now assumed to be a chaffinch. The species is monotypic; no subspecies are recognised.
The dickcissel is part of a group of the Cardinalidae that also includes Amaurospiza, Cyanocompsa, Cyanoloxia, and Passerina. Spiza is the only one among these that lacks blue structural colors in its plumage. Though the color pattern and habits... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Toluca | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 2 | Austin | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Dallas | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | San Antonio | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Maracaibo | 🇻🇪 Venezuela | |
| 6 | Houston | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Chicago | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Panama City | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 9 | San José | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 10 | Montreal | 🇨🇦 Canada |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Dickcissel sighting in Chicago on a given day, based on 726 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 172nd most-seen of the 314 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 and July
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Dickcissel in Chicago on a given day, against under 5% in August to May, the lowest months.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Dickcissel sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
7th of 23
Of the 23 cities where we can rate Dickcissel sightings, Chicago ranks 7th at under 5%. The best odds are in Toluca (México, about 10%), Austin (United States, under 5%) and Dallas (United States, under 5%).
Same family: Cardinalidae
The closest relatives of the Dickcissel that you can see in Chicago (family Cardinalidae, Cardinals and Allies) are Northern Cardinal (about 80%), Indigo Bunting (about 10%) and Rose-breasted Grosbeak (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Dickcissel is recorded against all the birds logged in Chicago (726 verified sightings), 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.
