Setophaga pinus
Silhouette: Dylan GE Gomes · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The pine warbler (Setophaga pinus) is a small songbird of the New World warbler family Parulidae. It is a permanent resident in the southeastern United States and also breeds in southeastern Canada and the northeastern United States, where it is migratory. Unlike other wood-warblers, in addition to insects the pine warbler also sometimes consumes seeds.
The pine warbler was formally described in 1766 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the twelfth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Certhia pinus. Linnaeus based his entry on the "pine-creeper" that had been described and illustrated by the English naturalists Mark Catesby in 1731 and George Edwards in 1760. Edwards had doubts as to whether his specimen was the same species as illustrated by Catesby and included as a footnote "On a stricter examination I think it a species different from Catesby's". Edwards' etching actually depicted a blue-winged warbler so that Linnaeus's name applied to two different species. This led to considerable instability in the nomenclature which was only resolved when in 2009 a new binomial name, Vermivora cyanoptera, was proposed by Storrs L. Olson and James L. Reveal... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Congaree National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Big Cypress National Preserve | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Voyageurs National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Everglades National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Acadia National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Great Smoky Mountains National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Jaragua National Park | 🇩🇴 Dominican Republic | |
| 8 | Shenandoah National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Isle Royale National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Point Pelee National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 11 | Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 12 | Celestún Biosphere Reserve | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 13 | Cumbres de Monterrey National Park | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 14 | Big Bend National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Houston | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Orlando | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Miami | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Boston | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | New York City | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Toronto | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 7 | Philadelphia | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | San Antonio | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Austin | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Baltimore | 🇺🇸 United States |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Pine Warbler sighting in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge on a given day, based on 389 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 122nd most-seen of the 279 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February and September–October
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Pine Warbler in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge on a given day, against under 5% in March–August and November–January, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Pine Warbler sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
11th of 14
Of the 14 parks where we can rate Pine Warbler sightings, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge ranks 11th at under 5%. The best odds are in Congaree National Park (United States, about 60%), Big Cypress National Preserve (United States, about 10%) and Voyageurs National Park (United States, about 10%).
Same genus: Setophaga
The closest relatives of the Pine Warbler that you can see in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge (genus Setophaga, Setophaga Warblers) are Yellow-rumped Warbler (about 40%), Palm Warbler (about 40%) and Northern Parula (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Pine Warbler is recorded against all the birds logged in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge (389 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.
