Thryophilus pleurostictus
Silhouette: Matt Wilkins · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~80% in a week >90%
The banded wren (Thryophilus pleurostictus) is a small songbird of the wren family. It is a resident breeding species from central Mexico to Costa Rica. It was formerly placed in the genus Thryothorus (Mann et al., 2006).
This wren breeds in lowlands and foothills from sea level up to 800 m altitude in open or scrubby woodland, including forest clearings and second growth. It mainly occurs on the Pacific side of the central mountain ranges. Its flask-shaped nest has a long entrance tube angled downward and is lined with fine grasses. It is constructed 1–2.5 m high in a fork of a thorny tree or shrub, often close to a wasp nest. The female alone incubates the three or four unspotted white or pale greenish-blue eggs for about two weeks to hatching, and the young fledge in about the same length of time again.
The adult banded wren is 13.5 cm long and weighs 20 g. It has chestnut brown upperparts, strong white supercilia, a brown stripe through the eye and black streaking on the white cheeks. The underparts are white with much black barring on the lower belly and flanks. The wings and tail are barred with black. Young birds have duller upperparts and dull white underparts, faintly mottled with dusky brown.
The call of this species is a nasal cherrrt or a rattle and roll, kert rrruk kert rrruk, and the melodious and complex song is a mix of clear whistles and musical trills. The banded wren forages actively in low vegetation or sometimes on the ground in pairs or family groups. It eats mainly eats insects, spiders and other invertebrates. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Santa Rosa National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 2 | Cañón del Sumidero National Park | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 3 | Rincón de la Vieja National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 4 | Ostional Wildlife Refuge | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 5 | Las Baulas Marine National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 6 | El Triunfo | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 7 | Cabo Blanco Absolute Nature Reserve | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 8 | Palo Verde National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 9 | Carara National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 10 | Masaya Volcano National Park | 🇳🇮 Nicaragua | |
| 11 | Tenorio Volcano National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Managua | 🇳🇮 Nicaragua | |
| 2 | San Salvador | 🇸🇻 El Salvador | |
| 3 | San José | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica |
Likely
About 40% of wildlife watchers report a Banded Wren sighting in Cañón del Sumidero National Park on a given day, based on 373 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 16th most-seen of the 243 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 80%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January, July and September
In those months about 60% of wildlife watchers report a Banded Wren in Cañón del Sumidero National Park on a given day, against about 20% in October, the lowest month.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Banded 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.
2nd of 11
Of the 11 parks where we can rate Banded Wren sightings, Cañón del Sumidero National Park ranks 2nd at about 40%. The best odds are in Santa Rosa National Park (Costa Rica, about 60%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Troglodytidae
The closest relatives of the Banded Wren that you can see in Cañón del Sumidero National Park (family Troglodytidae, Wrens) are Cabanis's Wren (about 30%), Spot-breasted Wren (about 30%) and Southern House Wren (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Banded Wren is recorded against all the birds logged in Cañón del Sumidero National Park (373 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.
