Montifringilla nivalis
Silhouette: Andrew Butko (modified) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The white-winged snowfinch (Montifringilla nivalis) is a small passerine bird. Despite its name, it is a sparrow rather than a true finch. In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the white-winged snowfinch in his Ornithologie based on a specimen but without specifying where it had been collected. He used the French name Le pinçon de neige ou la niverolle and the Latin Fringilla nivalis. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson. One of these was the white-winged snowfinch. Linnaeus included a brief description, used the binomial name Fringilla nivalis and cited Brisson's work. Linnaeus listed the type location as "America". The type location was subsequently designated as Switzerland. The specific name nivalis is Latin for 'snowy' or 'snow-white'. This species is now placed in the genus Montifringilla that was introduced by the German ornithologist... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park | 🇲🇳 Mongolia | |
| 2 | Vanoise National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 3 | Picos de Europa National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 4 | Hohe Tauern National Park | 🇦🇹 Austria | |
| 5 | Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 6 | Ecrins National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 7 | Triglav National Park | 🇸🇮 Slovenia | |
| 8 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alpenzoo Innsbruck | 🇦🇹 Austria |
Likely
About 60% of wildlife watchers report a White-winged Snowfinch sighting in Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park on a given day, based on 294 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 4th most-seen of the 122 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May and June
In those months about 60% of wildlife watchers report a White-winged Snowfinch in Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park on a given day, against about 30% in September, the lowest month. January–April and October–November have too few records to rate.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most White-winged Snowfinch sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 8 parks where we can rate White-winged Snowfinch sightings, Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park has the highest daily chance: about 60%. Next come Vanoise National Park (France, about 20%) and Picos de Europa National Park (Spain, about 20%).
Same family: Passeridae
The closest relatives of the White-winged Snowfinch that you can see in Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park (family Passeridae, Old World Sparrows) are Rock Petronia (about 50%), Eurasian Tree Sparrow (about 30%) and Saxaul Sparrow (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the White-winged Snowfinch is recorded against all the birds logged in Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park (294 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
