Protonotaria citrea
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~70% in a week ~90%
The prothonotary warbler (Protonotaria citrea) is a small songbird of the New World warbler family. It is named for its plumage, which resembles the yellow robes once worn by papal clerks (named prothonotaries) in the Roman Catholic Church.
The prothonotary warbler is the only member of the genus Protonotaria and the only eastern warbler that nests in natural or artificial cavities. These warblers often move with quick, jerky, movements and will even crawl upside down on sticks or trees. During the spring they are often seen in wetlands gathering nesting material, or food, for their mate.
The prothonotary warbler was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1779 in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux from a specimen collected in Louisiana. Buffon coined the French name Le figuier protonotaire. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle, which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text. Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Barranquilla | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 2 | Panama City | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 3 | Havana | 🇨🇺 Cuba | |
| 4 | Santo Domingo | 🇩🇴 Dominican Republic | |
| 5 | Washington | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Orlando | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Medellín | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 8 | San José | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 9 | Bogota | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 10 | Chicago | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Como Park Zoo and Conservatory | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Como Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Prothonotary Warbler sighting in Utría National Natural Park on a given day, based on 36 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 25th most-seen of the 154 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 70%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February
In that month about 50% of wildlife watchers report a Prothonotary Warbler in Utría National Natural Park on a given day, against about 20% in March, May and July–August, the lowest months. That is one of Utría National Natural Park's driest months, with about 270 mm of rain against 710 mm in October. April, June and December have too few records to rate.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Prothonotary 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.
3rd of 47
Of the 47 parks where we can rate Prothonotary Warbler sightings, Utría National Natural Park ranks 3rd at about 30%. The best odds are in Bastimentos Island National Marine Park (Panama, about 40%) and Point Pelee National Park (Canada, about 40%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Parulidae
The closest relatives of the Prothonotary Warbler that you can see in Utría National Natural Park (family Parulidae, New World Warblers) are Northern Waterthrush (about 30%), Bay-breasted Warbler (about 20%) and Yellow Warbler (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Prothonotary Warbler is recorded against all the birds logged in Utría National Natural Park (36 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.
