Dolichonyx oryzivorus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5%
The bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus) is a small New World blackbird and the only member of the genus Dolichonyx. An old name for this species is the "rice bird", from its tendency to feed on cultivated grains during winter and migration. The bobolink breeds in the summer in the United States and Canada, with most of the summer range in the northern U.S. Bobolinks winter in southern South America, primarily Paraguay, Argentina, and Bolivia. Bobolink numbers are rapidly declining due to factors such as agricultural intensification and habitat loss; they are considered threatened in Canada, and are at risk throughout their range.
The bobolink was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. He placed it with the finches in the genus Fringilla and coined the binomial name Fringilla oryzivora. Linnaeus mainly based his account on "The Rice-Bird" that had been described and illustrated in 1729 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 "Cuba... in Carolinam" but this was restricted to the state of... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Isla del Coco National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 2 | Badlands National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Point Pelee National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 4 | Riding Mountain National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 5 | Everglades National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Acadia National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Death Valley National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Celestún Biosphere Reserve | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 9 | Big Cypress National Preserve | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Arrecifes de Cozumel National Park | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 11 | Yellowstone National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 12 | Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 13 | Shenandoah National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 14 | Channel Islands National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 15 | La Amistad International Park (Panama) | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 16 | Rocky Mountain National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lima | 🇵🇪 Peru | |
| 2 | San Diego | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Philadelphia | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Chicago | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Boston | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Orlando | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | New York City | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Baltimore | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Washington | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Miami | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ralph Perkins II Wildlife Center and Woods Garden | 🇺🇸 United States |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Bobolink sighting in Washington on a given day, based on 356 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 189th most-seen of the 267 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Bobolink in Washington on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Bobolink sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 17 cities where we can rate Bobolink sightings, Washington ranks 9th at under 5%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Lima (Peru, under 5%), San Diego (United States, under 5%) and Philadelphia (United States, under 5%).
Same family: Icteridae
The closest relatives of the Bobolink that you can see in Washington (family Icteridae, New World Blackbirds and Orioles) are Common Grackle (about 40%), Red-winged Blackbird (about 40%) and Brown-headed Cowbird (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Bobolink is recorded against all the birds logged in Washington (356 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.
