Zonotrichia atricapilla
Silhouette: Edwin Price · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The golden-crowned sparrow (Zonotrichia atricapilla) is a large New World sparrow found in the western part of North America. The golden-crowned sparrow is one of five species in the genus Zonotrichia, a group of large American sparrows. It has no subspecies. It is a sister species with, and very closely related to, the white-crowned sparrow; studies of mitochondrial DNA show the two evolved into separate species very recently in geologic time. The white-throated sparrow is a slightly more distant relative. Hybridization with both white-crowned and white-throated sparrows has been reported.
Ornithologist John Latham first described the species in his book General Synopsis of Birds in 1781, but he thought it was a variety of what he called the "black-crowned bunting" and neglected to give it a scientific name. That lapse was corrected in 1789, when Johann Friedrich Gmelin assigned it the name Emberiza atricapilla in the 13th edition of Systema naturae. Various authorities in the 1800s (including John James Audubon) placed it in the genus Fringilla, but many assigned it to its current genus, Zonotrichia, once William Swainson had established that genus. Peter Simon Pallas... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Katmai National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Olympic National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Great Bear Rainforest | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 4 | Redwood National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Pacific Rim National Park Reserve | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 6 | Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Kenai Fjords National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Denali National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Channel Islands National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Jasper National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 11 | Kluane National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 12 | Yosemite National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 13 | Death Valley National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 14 | Banff National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Francisco | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Portland | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Sacramento | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Seattle | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Vancouver | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 6 | Salt Lake City | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Toronto | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 8 | Los Angeles | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | San Diego | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Anchorage | 🇺🇸 United States |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Golden-crowned Sparrow sighting in Yosemite National Park on a given day, based on 98 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 109th most-seen of the 169 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.
December
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Golden-crowned Sparrow in Yosemite National Park on a given day, against under 5% in March and May–September, the lowest months. That is one of Yosemite National Park's wettest months, with about 180 mm of rain against 25 mm in September.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Golden-crowned Sparrow sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
12th of 14
Of the 14 parks where we can rate Golden-crowned Sparrow sightings, Yosemite National Park ranks 12th at under 5%. The best odds are in Katmai National Park (United States, about 30%), Olympic National Park (United States, about 20%) and Great Bear Rainforest (Canada, about 20%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Golden-crowned Sparrow is recorded against all the birds logged in Yosemite National Park (98 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.
