Melozone cabanisi
Silhouette: Edwin Price · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
Cabanis's ground sparrow (Melozone cabanisi) or the Costa Rican ground sparrow is a Near Threatened species of bird in the family Passerellidae, the New World sparrows. It is endemic to Costa Rica. Cabanis's ground sparrow has a complicated taxonomic history. It was formally described by Philip Sclater and Osbert Salvin in 1868 with the binomial Pyrgisoma cabanisi. Some early twentieth century authors treated it as conspecific with the rusty-crowned ground sparrow (Melozone kieneri) and by late in the century most taxonomic systems treated it as a subspecies of Melozone biarcuata (Prevost's or white-faced ground sparrow). In 2012 the IOC again recognized it as a full species. Other systems slowly followed suit.
Cabanis's ground sparrow is monotypic. Cabanis's ground sparrow is about 15 cm (5.9 in) long. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a black forecrown. The rest of their crown and their ear coverts are chestnut or chestnut-rufous; the latter have a thin U-shaped black line around their bottom half. They have white lores, a white eye-ring, and white cheeks, chin, and throat with a thin black "moustache". Their back, scapulars... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 2 | Tapantí-Macizo de la Muerte National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San José | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Cabanis's Ground-Sparrow sighting in San José on a given day, based on 887 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 78th most-seen of the 379 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January, March–April and September
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Cabanis's Ground-Sparrow in San José on a given day, against under 5% in February, May–August and October–December, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Cabanis's Ground-Sparrow sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only San José, in our data
San José is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Cabanis's Ground-Sparrow sightings: under 5% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Cabanis's Ground-Sparrow is recorded against all the birds logged in San José (887 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.
