Passerina ciris
Silhouette: Jonah Duckles · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
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 |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Painted Bunting sighting in Houston on a given day, based on 322 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 162nd most-seen of the 302 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.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Painted Bunting in Houston on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
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.
10th of 24
Of the 24 cities where we can rate Painted Bunting sightings, Houston ranks 10th at under 5%. The best odds are in León (México, about 10%), San Antonio (United States, about 10%) and Austin (United States, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Painted Bunting is recorded against all the birds logged in Houston (322 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.
