Cantorchilus modestus
Silhouette: Matt Wilkins · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
Cabanis's wren (Cantorchilus modestus) is a species of bird in the family Troglodytidae. It is found in Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua. Cabanis's wren, with what are now the canebrake wren (C. zeledoni) and the isthmian wren (C. elutus), were called the plain wren. The three were split from each other in 2016 on the basis of a 2015 publication that described their different vocalizations and genetic divergence. Cabanis's wren is monotypic according to the International Ornithological Committee (IOC) and the Clements taxonomy. However, BirdLife International (BLI) retains C. modestus as "plain wren" with elutus as a subspecies of it rather than as a full species.
Cabanis's wren is 12.5 to 14 cm (4.9 to 5.5 in) long. Two males weighed 17.8 and 19.1 g (0.63 and 0.67 oz) and two females 16.0 and 16.6 g (0.56 and 0.59 oz). Adults have a dark gray-brown crown, a rufous-brown back, an orange-rufous rump, and a rufescent brown tail with narrow darker bars. They have a white supercilium, a gray-brown stripe behind the eye, and cheeks mottled gray-brown and gray-white. Their throat is white, the chest... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San José | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 2 | Guatemala City | 🇬🇹 Guatemala | |
| 3 | Tegucigalpa | 🇭🇳 Honduras | |
| 4 | San Salvador | 🇸🇻 El Salvador | |
| 5 | Panama City | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 6 | San Pedro Sula | 🇭🇳 Honduras | |
| 7 | Managua | 🇳🇮 Nicaragua |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Cabanis's Wren sighting in Arenal Volcano National Park on a given day, based on 193 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 325th most-seen of the 503 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Cabanis's Wren in Arenal Volcano National Park on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 6 and 9 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Cabanis's Wren sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
33rd of 36
Of the 36 parks where we can rate Cabanis's Wren sightings, Arenal Volcano National Park ranks 33rd at under 5%. The best odds are in La Tigra National Park (Honduras, about 50%), Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve (Costa Rica, about 40%) and Chagres National Park (Panama, about 30%). All parks ranked.
Same genus: Cantorchilus
The closest relatives of the Cabanis's Wren that you can see in Arenal Volcano National Park (genus Cantorchilus, Cantorchilus Wrens) are Stripe-breasted Wren (about 30%) and Bay Wren (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Cabanis's Wren is recorded against all the birds logged in Arenal Volcano National Park (193 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.
