Lampropsar tanagrinus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10%
The velvet-fronted grackle (Lampropsar tanagrinus) is a species of bird in the family Icteridae, monotypic within the genus Lampropsar. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Venezuela where its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical swamps and heavily degraded former forest.
The velvet-fronted grackle was formally described in 1824 as Icterus tanagrinus by the German naturalist Johann Baptist von Spix. The specific epithet is Modern Latin meaning "tanager-like", from the genus Tanagra that had been introduced by Carl Linnaeus in 1764. The type locality was designated by the Brazilian zoologist Olivério Pinto in 1944 as the left bank of the Amazon River at Itacoatiara in the Brazilian state of Amazonas. The velvet-fronted grackle is now the only species placed in the genus Lampropsar that was introduced in 1847 by the German ornithologist Jean Cabanis. In 1848 he placed a single taxon in the genus, Lampropsa guianensis Cabanis. This is the type species. It is now considered as a subspecies of the velvet-fronted grackle. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek λαμπρος/lampros meaning "brilliant" with ψαρ/psar, ψαρος/psaros meaning... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Amacayacu National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 2 | Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 3 | Amboró National Park | 🇧🇴 Bolivia |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Santa Cruz de la Sierra | 🇧🇴 Bolivia |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Velvet-fronted Grackle sighting in Amboró National Park on a given day, based on 9 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 199th most-seen of the 273 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May and December–February
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Velvet-fronted Grackle in Amboró National Park on a given day, against under 5% in March–April and July–November, the lowest months. Those are among Amboró National Park's wettest months, with about 280 mm of rain a month against 90 mm in September. June has too few records to rate.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Velvet-fronted Grackle 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 3
Of the 3 parks where we can rate Velvet-fronted Grackle sightings, Amboró National Park ranks 3rd at under 5%. The best odds are in Amacayacu National Natural Park (Colombia, about 10%) and Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve (Ecuador, under 5%).
Same family: Icteridae
The closest relatives of the Velvet-fronted Grackle that you can see in Amboró National Park (family Icteridae, New World Blackbirds and Orioles) are Crested Oropendola (about 80%), Dusky-green Oropendola (about 60%) and Giant Cowbird (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Velvet-fronted Grackle is recorded against all the birds logged in Amboró National Park (9 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.
