Sayornis nigricans
Silhouette: Emily Willoughby · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
The black phoebe (Sayornis nigricans) is a passerine bird in the tyrant-flycatcher family. It breeds from southwest Oregon and California south through Central and South America. It occurs year-round throughout most of its range and migrates less than the other birds in its genus though its northern populations are partially migratory. Six subspecies are commonly recognized although two are occasionally combined as a separate species, the white-winged phoebe.
The black phoebe has predominantly black plumage, with a white belly and undertail coverts. The sexes are identical in color, and juveniles have brown feather tips and brown wing-bars. Its song is a repeated tee-hee, tee ho. It lives in a variety of habitats but is always near water. It is mainly insectivorous and waits on a perch before sallying out and catching its prey in the air. It makes an open cup nest which is placed under a cliff or a bridge and cemented in its place with mud.
The black phoebe is a medium-sized flycatcher, being 16 cm (6.3 in) in length and weighing 15 to 22 g (0.5 to 0.8 oz). It has predominantly black plumage, with white on its belly and undertail coverts. The white forms an inverted... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tijuana | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 2 | Sacramento | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Los Angeles | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | San Francisco | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | San Diego | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Mesa | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Monterrey | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 8 | León | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 9 | Las Vegas | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Toluca | 🇲🇽 México |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Black Phoebe sighting in Arenal Volcano National Park on a given day, based on 1,161 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 164th most-seen of the 503 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July to April
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Black Phoebe in Arenal Volcano National Park on a given day, against under 5% in May and June, the lowest months.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Black Phoebe sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
28th of 45
Of the 45 parks where we can rate Black Phoebe sightings, Arenal Volcano National Park ranks 28th at about 10%. The best odds are in Channel Islands National Park (United States, about 70%), Amboró National Park (Bolivia, about 60%) and Death Valley National Park (United States, about 40%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Tyrannidae
The closest relatives of the Black Phoebe that you can see in Arenal Volcano National Park (family Tyrannidae, Tyrant Flycatchers) are Great Kiskadee (about 70%), Social Flycatcher (about 50%) and Tropical Kingbird (about 50%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Black Phoebe is recorded against all the birds logged in Arenal Volcano National Park (1,161 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.
