Vermivora chrysoptera
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The golden-winged warbler (Vermivora chrysoptera) is a small migratory insectivorous bird in the New World warbler family Parulidae. It breeds in southeastern and south-central Canada and in the Appalachian Mountains in the northeastern to north-central United States. The majority (~70%) of the global population breeds in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Manitoba. Golden-winged warbler populations are slowly expanding northwards but are generally declining across its range. This is most likely as a result of habitat loss and competition/interbreeding with the very closely related blue-winged warbler, Vermivora cyanoptera, albeit the latter point has been debated. Populations are now restricted to two regions: the Great Lakes and the Appalachian Mountains.
The golden-winged warbler was formally described in 1766 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the twelfth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Motacilla chrysoptera. The specific epithet is from Ancient Greek χρυσοπτερος/khrusopteros meaning "golden-winged", from χρυσος/khrusos meaning "gold" and -πτερος/-pteros meaning "-winged". Linnaeus based his entry on "The golden-winged fly-catcher" that had... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Diego | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Chicago | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Minneapolis [Saint Paul] | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Detroit | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Houston | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | San José | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 7 | Havana | 🇨🇺 Cuba | |
| 8 | Austin | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | San Antonio | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Dallas | 🇺🇸 United States |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Golden-winged Warbler sighting in Piedras Blancas National Park on a given day, based on 69 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 214th most-seen of the 344 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.
January and March
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Golden-winged Warbler in Piedras Blancas National Park on a given day, against under 5% in February and April–December, the lowest months. Those are among Piedras Blancas National Park's driest months, with about 75 mm of rain a month against 650 mm in October.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Golden-winged Warbler sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
20th of 39
Of the 39 parks where we can rate Golden-winged Warbler sightings, Piedras Blancas National Park ranks 20th at under 5%. The best odds are in Chagres National Park (Panama, about 20%), Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve (Costa Rica, about 20%) and La Tigra National Park (Honduras, about 10%).
Same family: Parulidae
The closest relatives of the Golden-winged Warbler that you can see in Piedras Blancas National Park (family Parulidae, New World Warblers) are Chestnut-sided Warbler (about 30%), Buff-rumped Warbler (about 20%) and Yellow Warbler (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Golden-winged Warbler is recorded against all the birds logged in Piedras Blancas National Park (69 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.
