Cyphorhinus phaeocephalus
Silhouette: Matt Wilkins · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
The song wren (Cyphorhinus phaeocephalus) is a species of bird in the family Troglodytidae. It is found in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama. At one time the song wren and the musician wren (Cyphorhinus arada) were considered conspecific. They, and possibly chestnut-breasted wren (C. thoracicus), form a superspecies.
The International Ornithological Committee (IOC) and BirdLife International (BLI) recognize the six subspecies listed below. Its body is nearly uniformly brown, though sometimes paler on the breast. It has a chestnut throat and black bars on the wings and its very short tail. It has a patch of bare blue skin around the eye. The subspecies have some variations in color and intensity, and extensive descriptive details can be found in Pollock... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Soberanía National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 2 | San Lorenzo Protected Forest | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 3 | Chagres National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 4 | Arenal Volcano National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 5 | Tenorio Volcano National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 6 | Rincón de la Vieja National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 7 | Braulio Carrillo National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 8 | Tapantí-Macizo de la Muerte National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 9 | Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 10 | La Amistad International Park (Panama) | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 11 | Tortuguero National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 12 | Parque Natural Metropolitano | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 13 | Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Song Wren sighting in Arenal Volcano National Park on a given day, based on 1,088 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 161st 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.
February to December
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Song Wren in Arenal Volcano National Park on a given day, against under 5% in January, the lowest month.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Song 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.
4th of 13
Of the 13 parks where we can rate Song Wren sightings, Arenal Volcano National Park ranks 4th at about 10%. The best odds are in Soberanía National Park (Panama, about 30%), San Lorenzo Protected Forest (Panama, about 10%) and Chagres National Park (Panama, about 10%).
Same family: Troglodytidae
The closest relatives of the Song Wren that you can see in Arenal Volcano National Park (family Troglodytidae, Wrens) are Southern House Wren (about 40%), White-breasted Wood-Wren (about 30%) and Stripe-breasted Wren (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Song Wren is recorded against all the birds logged in Arenal Volcano National Park (1,088 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.
