Capsiempis flaveola
Silhouette: Emily Willoughby · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The yellow tyrannulet (Capsiempis flaveola) is a small passerine bird in subfamily Elaeniinae of family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers. It is found in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, and in every mainland South American country except Chile and Uruguay.
The yellow tyrannulet was originally described in 1823 as Muscicapa flaveola and in 1859 moved to the newly created genus Capsiempis. In the 1970s that genus was merged into Phylloscartes but by 1990 it had been resurrected. The yellow tyrannulet is the only member of genus Capsiempis.
The yellow tyrannulet has these five subspecies: The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies C. f. flaveola have a dark yellowish olive crown with a somewhat bushy crest. They have a bright yellow supercilium, a bright yellow partial eye ring, and a dark line through the eye on an otherwise yellowish face. Their upperparts... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maceió | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 2 | Niterói | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 3 | Panama City | 🇵🇦 Panama |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Yellow Tyrannulet sighting in Arenal Volcano National Park on a given day, based on 712 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 202nd 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 and November–December
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Yellow Tyrannulet in Arenal Volcano National Park on a given day, against under 5% in January–August and October, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Yellow Tyrannulet sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
10th of 29
Of the 29 parks where we can rate Yellow Tyrannulet sightings, Arenal Volcano National Park ranks 10th at under 5%. The best odds are in Iguazú National Park (Argentina, about 20%), Iguaçu National Park (Brazil, about 20%) and San Lorenzo Protected Forest (Panama, about 10%).
Same family: Tyrannidae
The closest relatives of the Yellow Tyrannulet 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 Yellow Tyrannulet is recorded against all the birds logged in Arenal Volcano National Park (712 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.
