Loxia megaplaga
Silhouette: Emma Hughes · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
The Hispaniolan crossbill (Loxia megaplaga) is an Endangered species of passerine bird in the family Fringillidae, the finches and euphonias. It is endemic to the island of Hispaniola that is shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic).
The Hispaniolan crossbill was originally described in 1916 with its current binomial Loxia megaplaga. It was soon reclassified as a subspecies of the two-barred crossbill (L. leucoptera), which is also called the white-winged crossbill. Since about 2000, and certainly 2003, taxonomic systems again recognized it as a full species.
Mitochondrial DNA and other analyses conclude that the Hispaniolan crossbill probably diverged from the two-barred crossbill no later than the end of the Pleistocene but at most about 680,000 years ago. As the Pleistocene glaciers receded and the landscape warmed the species was isolated in cooler mountain ranges above the lowlands. There are significant morphological differences between the two species. Notably, the Hispaniolan's bill is 25% larger than that of the two-barred.
The Hispaniolan crossbill is monotypic. It is the only member of genus Loxia in the Caribbean. The... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jaragua National Park | 🇩🇴 Dominican Republic |
More parks will be added in future updates.
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Hispaniolan Crossbill sighting in Jaragua National Park on a given day, based on 11 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 66th most-seen of the 92 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Hispaniolan Crossbill in Jaragua National Park on a given day, against under 5% in January, March, May and November, the lowest months. June to September have too few records to rate.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Hispaniolan Crossbill sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Jaragua National Park, in our data
Jaragua National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Hispaniolan Crossbill sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same order: Passeriformes
The closest relatives of the Hispaniolan Crossbill that you can see in Jaragua National Park (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are Stolid Flycatcher (about 40%), Black-crowned Palm-Tanager (about 30%) and Northern Mockingbird (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Hispaniolan Crossbill is recorded against all the birds logged in Jaragua National Park (11 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.
