Spiza americana
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~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 Maracaibo on a given day, based on 5 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 84th most-seen of the 89 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
November
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Dickcissel in Maracaibo on a given day, against under 5% in December to October, the lowest months. That is one of Maracaibo's wettest months, with about 85 mm of rain against 5 mm in February.
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.
5th of 23
Of the 23 cities where we can rate Dickcissel sightings, Maracaibo ranks 5th at under 5%. The best odds are in Toluca (México, about 10%), Austin (United States, under 5%) and Dallas (United States, under 5%).
Same order: Passeriformes
The closest relatives of the Dickcissel that you can see in Maracaibo (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are Tropical Kingbird (about 90%), Tropical Mockingbird (about 90%) and Carib Grackle (about 80%), 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 Maracaibo (5 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.
