Saltator grossus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The slate-colored grosbeak (Saltator grossus) is a species of bird in the family Thraupidae, the tanagers and allies. It is found from Honduras to Panama and in every mainland South American country except Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the slate-colored grosbeak in the supplement to his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected in "America". He used the French name Le gros-bec bleu d'Amérique and the Latin name Coccothraustes americana caerulea. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognized by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson in his Ornithologie. One of these was the slate-colored grosbeak. Linnaeus included a terse description, coined the binomial name Loxia grossa and cited Brisson's work. The specific name grossa, grossus is Latin for "thick", "rough" or "coarse". The type locality was restricted in 1902 to "Cayenne... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Soberanía National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 2 | Farallones de Cali National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 3 | Chagres National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 4 | Braulio Carrillo National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 5 | Amacayacu National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 6 | Manu National Park | 🇵🇪 Peru | |
| 7 | Brownsberg Nature Park | 🇸🇷 Suriname | |
| 8 | Arenal Volcano National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 9 | Tenorio Volcano National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 10 | Tambopata National Reserve | 🇵🇪 Peru | |
| 11 | Sierra de la Macarena National Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 12 | Podocarpus National Park | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 13 | Yasuní National Park | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 14 | Cahuita National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 15 | La Amistad International Park (Panama) | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 16 | Poás Volcano National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 17 | Tapantí-Macizo de la Muerte National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Slate-coloured Grosbeak sighting in Arenal Volcano National Park on a given day, based on 625 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 212th most-seen of the 503 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September to December
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Slate-coloured Grosbeak in Arenal Volcano National Park on a given day, against under 5% in January to August, the lowest months.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Slate-coloured Grosbeak sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
8th of 17
Of the 17 parks where we can rate Slate-coloured Grosbeak sightings, Arenal Volcano National Park ranks 8th at under 5%. The best odds are in Soberanía National Park (Panama, about 10%), Farallones de Cali National Natural Park (Colombia, about 10%) and Chagres National Park (Panama, about 10%).
Same genus: Saltator
The closest relatives of the Slate-coloured Grosbeak that you can see in Arenal Volcano National Park (genus Saltator, Typical Saltators) are Buff-throated Saltator (about 50%), Black-headed Saltator (about 10%) and Cinnamon-bellied Saltator (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Slate-coloured Grosbeak is recorded against all the birds logged in Arenal Volcano National Park (625 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.
