Contopus cinereus
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
The southern tropical pewee (Contopus cinereus) is a small passerine bird in the family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay. The southern tropical pewee's taxonomy is unsettled.
The North and South American Classification Committees of the American Ornithological Society treat those subspecies and six others as the tropical pewee with the binomial Contopus cinereus. In 2016 HBW separated three of the subspecies as the two-subspecies southern tropical pewee (C. cinereus) and the monotypic western tropical pewee (C. punensis). In 2022 Clements recognized the southern tropical pewee as a species and the IOC followed suit in 2023.
The southern tropical pewee is 13.5 to 14.5 cm (5.3 to 5.7 in) long and weighs about 10 to 15 g (0.35 to 0.53 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies have a dark... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Salvador | 🇸🇻 El Salvador | |
| 2 | Panama City | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 3 | Guatemala City | 🇬🇹 Guatemala | |
| 4 | San José | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 5 | Bogota | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 6 | Medellín | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 7 | Managua | 🇳🇮 Nicaragua | |
| 8 | São Paulo | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Southern Tropical Pewee sighting in Arenal Volcano National Park on a given day, based on 1,557 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 137th most-seen of the 503 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April and May
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Southern Tropical Pewee in Arenal Volcano National Park on a given day, against about 10% in June to March, the lowest months.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Southern Tropical Pewee sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
8th of 49
Of the 49 parks where we can rate Southern Tropical Pewee sightings, Arenal Volcano National Park ranks 8th at about 10%. The best odds are in El Triunfo (Mexico, about 20%), Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve (Mexico, about 20%) and Coiba National Park (Panama, about 20%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Southern Tropical Pewee is recorded against all the birds logged in Arenal Volcano National Park (1,557 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.
