Synallaxis gujanensis
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The plain-crowned spinetail (Synallaxis gujanensis) is a species of bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.
The plain-crowned spinetail 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 gujanensis. Gmelin based his description on "Le rouge-queue de la Guyanne" that had been described and illustrated in 1778 by the French polymath, the Comte de Buffon. The specific epithet gujanensis is from the type locality, the Guianas. The plain-crowned spinetail is one of 37 spinetails in the genus Synallaxis that was introduced in 1818 by Louis Pierre Vieillot.
Six subspecies are recognized: What are in 2023 the Araguaia spinetail (S. simoni), the white-lored spinetail... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manu National Park | 🇵🇪 Peru | |
| 2 | Tambopata National Reserve | 🇵🇪 Peru | |
| 3 | Sierra de la Macarena National Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 4 | Amacayacu National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 5 | Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve | 🇪🇨 Ecuador |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Belém | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Plain-crowned Spinetail sighting in Amacayacu National Natural Park on a given day, based on 21 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 313th most-seen of the 436 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.
March and December
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Plain-crowned Spinetail in Amacayacu National Natural Park on a given day, against under 5% in January–February and April–November, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Plain-crowned Spinetail sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
4th of 5
Of the 5 parks where we can rate Plain-crowned Spinetail sightings, Amacayacu National Natural Park ranks 4th at under 5%. The best odds are in Manu National Park (Peru, about 20%), Tambopata National Reserve (Peru, about 10%) and Sierra de la Macarena National Park (Colombia, under 5%).
Same genus: Synallaxis
The closest relatives of the Plain-crowned Spinetail that you can see in Amacayacu National Natural Park (genus Synallaxis, Synallaxis Spinetails) are White-bellied Spinetail (about 20%) and Dark-breasted Spinetail (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Plain-crowned Spinetail is recorded against all the birds logged in Amacayacu National Natural Park (21 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.
