Setophaga citrina
Silhouette: Dylan GE Gomes · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%
The hooded warbler (Setophaga citrina) is a New World warbler. It breeds in eastern North America across the eastern United States and into southernmost Canada (Ontario). It is migratory, wintering in Central America and the West Indies. Hooded warblers are very rare vagrants to western Europe.
Recent genetic research has suggested that the type species of Wilsonia (hooded warbler W. citrina) and of Setophaga (American redstart S. ruticilla) are closely related and should be merged into the same genus. As the name Setophaga (published in 1827) takes priority over Wilsonia (published in 1838), hooded warbler would then be transferred as Setophaga citrina. This change has been accepted by the North American Classification Committee of the American Ornithologists' Union, and the IOC World Bird List. The South American Classification Committee continues to list the bird in the genus Wilsonia.
The French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon described the hooded warbler in 1779 in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux from a specimen collected in Louisiana. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the Planches Enluminées... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Pedro Sula | 🇭🇳 Honduras | |
| 2 | Havana | 🇨🇺 Cuba | |
| 3 | Houston | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Tegucigalpa | 🇭🇳 Honduras | |
| 5 | Montreal | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 6 | New York City | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Guatemala City | 🇬🇹 Guatemala | |
| 8 | Orlando | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Guadalajara | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 10 | Baltimore | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Disney's Animal Kingdom | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Woodland Park Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Hooded Warbler sighting in Shenandoah National Park on a given day, based on 1,296 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 36th most-seen of the 186 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 50%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May and June
In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Hooded Warbler in Shenandoah National Park on a given day, against under 5% in October to March, the lowest months.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Hooded 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.
11th of 41
Of the 41 parks where we can rate Hooded Warbler sightings, Shenandoah National Park ranks 11th at about 20%. The best odds are in Tikal National Park (Guatemala, about 40%), Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve (Mexico, about 30%) and Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary (Belize, about 30%).
Same genus: Setophaga
The closest relatives of the Hooded Warbler that you can see in Shenandoah National Park (genus Setophaga, Setophaga Warblers) are American Redstart (about 30%), Cerulean Warbler (about 10%) and Yellow-rumped Warbler (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Hooded Warbler is recorded against all the birds logged in Shenandoah National Park (1,296 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.
