Rhynchocyclus brevirostris
Silhouette: Emily Willoughby · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10%
The eye-ringed flatbill (Rhynchocyclus brevirostris) is a species of bird in the family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers. It is found in Mexico, every Central American country, and Colombia. The eye-ringed flatbill was originally described in 1847 as Cyclorhynchus brevirostris. For a time in the early twentieth century what is now the Pacific flatbill (R. pacificus) was also treated as a subspecies.
The eye-ringed flatbill is 15 to 17 cm (5.9 to 6.7 in) long and weighs 21 to 23 g (0.74 to 0.81 oz). The sexes have almost the same plumage. Adults have a bold white eye-ring, a faint dark smudge below the eye, grayish lores and cheeks, and a dusky patch behind grayish ear coverts. The rest of their head and their entire upperparts are olive-green. Their wings and tail are dusky with paler yellow-olive edges on the feathers. Males have stiff comb-like barbs on the outer primaries; females lack them. In both sexes the throat and upper breast are dull to dusky olive-green that becomes paler... Wikipedia →
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report an Eye-ringed Flatbill sighting in Arenal Volcano National Park on a given day, based on 251 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 294th most-seen of the 503 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises 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 an Eye-ringed Flatbill in Arenal Volcano National Park on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Eye-ringed Flatbill sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
18th of 25
Of the 25 parks where we can rate Eye-ringed Flatbill sightings, Arenal Volcano National Park ranks 18th at under 5%. The best odds are in Tikal National Park (Guatemala, about 30%), Calakmul Biosphere Reserve (Mexico, about 20%) and El Triunfo (Mexico, about 20%).
Same family: Tyrannidae
The closest relatives of the Eye-ringed Flatbill 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 Eye-ringed Flatbill is recorded against all the birds logged in Arenal Volcano National Park (251 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.
