Setophaga townsendi
Silhouette: Dylan GE Gomes · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%
Townsend's warbler (Setophaga townsendi) is a small songbird of the New World warbler family. Townsend's warbler was formally described in 1837 by the American naturalist John Kirk Townsend under the binomial name Sylvia townsendi. The type locality is Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River in the state of Washington. After the merger of the genera Dendroica and Setophaga, Townsend's warbler is now placed in the genus Setophaga that was introduced by the English naturalist William Swainson in 1827. The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.
Townsend's warbler has a yellow face with a black stripe across its cheeks extending into an ear patch, a thin pointed bill, two white wing bars, olive upperparts with black streaks on their backs and flanks, and a white belly. Adult males have a black cap, black throat and yellow lower breast; females have a dark cap and a yellow throat. Immature birds are similar to females with a dark green cap and cheeks.
Their breeding habitats are coniferous forests with large trees on the northwestern coast of North America. Their nests are shallow cups built with grass and lined with moss. These... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Toluca | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 2 | San Francisco | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Tijuana | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 4 | Mexico City | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 5 | Guatemala City | 🇬🇹 Guatemala | |
| 6 | Los Angeles | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | San Diego | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Portland | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Guadalajara | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 10 | Puebla | 🇲🇽 México |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Townsend's Warbler sighting in San Francisco on a given day, based on 24,331 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 43rd most-seen of the 375 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 50%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September and October
In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Townsend's Warbler in San Francisco on a given day, against under 5% in May to August, the lowest months. Those are among San Francisco's driest months, with about 15 mm of rain a month against 110 mm in December.
Between 1 and 4 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Townsend's 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.
2nd of 28
Of the 28 cities where we can rate Townsend's Warbler sightings, San Francisco ranks 2nd at about 20%. The best odds are in Toluca (México, about 40%).
Same genus: Setophaga
The closest relatives of the Townsend's Warbler that you can see in San Francisco (genus Setophaga, Setophaga Warblers) are Yellow-rumped Warbler (about 40%), Northern Yellow Warbler (about 10%) and Audubon's Warbler (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Townsend's Warbler is recorded against all the birds logged in San Francisco (24,331 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.
