Parkesia noveboracensis
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~60% in a week ~90%
The northern waterthrush (Parkesia noveboracensis) is a species of ground-feeding migratory New World warbler of the genus Parkesia. It breeds in the northern part of North America, in Alaska, Canada, and the northern United States; it winters in Florida, Central America, the West Indies, Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador. It is a rare vagrant to other South American countries and to western Europe. Its closest relative is the Louisiana waterthrush.
The northern waterthrush was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the wagtails in the genus Motacilla and coined the binomial name Motacilla noveboracensis. Gmelin based his account on descriptions of the species by earlier authors, none of whom had coined a binomial name. In 1778 the French polymath the Comte de Buffon had described "La fauvette tacheté de la Louisiane" in his book Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux. A hand-coloured engraving by François-Nicolas Martinet was published separately to accompany Buffon's text. The species was later described under the name "New York warbler" by the English... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Medellín | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 2 | New York City | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Havana | 🇨🇺 Cuba | |
| 4 | Bogota | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 5 | Caracas | 🇻🇪 Venezuela | |
| 6 | Chicago | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Panama City | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 8 | Baltimore | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Santo Domingo | 🇩🇴 Dominican Republic | |
| 10 | Minneapolis [Saint Paul] | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Saint Louis Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Prospect Park Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Northern Waterthrush sighting in Ría Lagartos Biosphere Reserve on a given day, based on 245 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 46th most-seen of the 216 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 60%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September–October and December
In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Northern Waterthrush in Ría Lagartos Biosphere Reserve on a given day, against about 10% in May to July, the lowest months. Those are among Ría Lagartos Biosphere Reserve's wettest months, with about 95 mm of rain a month against 20 mm in February.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Northern Waterthrush sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
17th of 90
Of the 90 parks where we can rate Northern Waterthrush sightings, Ría Lagartos Biosphere Reserve ranks 17th at about 30%. The best odds are in Gros Morne National Park (Canada, about 50%), Isla del Coco National Park (Costa Rica, about 40%) and Caroni Swamp (Trinidad and Tobago, about 40%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Parulidae
The closest relatives of the Northern Waterthrush that you can see in Ría Lagartos Biosphere Reserve (family Parulidae, New World Warblers) are Yellow Warbler (about 50%), Palm Warbler (about 10%) and Common Yellowthroat (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Northern Waterthrush is recorded against all the birds logged in Ría Lagartos Biosphere Reserve (245 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.
