Chloroceryle aenea
Silhouette: Steven Traver · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~70% in a week ~90%
The American pygmy kingfisher (Chloroceryle aenea) is a species of "water kingfisher" in subfamily Cerylinae of family Alcedinidae. It is found in the American tropics from southern Mexico south through Central America into every mainland South American country except Chile and Uruguay. It also occurs on Trinidad.
The first formal description of the American pygmy kingfisher was by the German zoologist Peter Simon Pallas in 1764 under the binomial name Alcedo aenea. The specific epithet aenea is from the Latin aeneus meaning "of a bronze colour". The current genus Chloroceryle was erected by Johann Jakob Kaup in 1848.
A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2006 found that the American pygmy kingfisher was a sister species to a clade containing the green-and-rufous kingfisher (C. inda) and the green kingfisher (C. americana). The American pygmy kingfisher is about 13 cm (5.1 in) long. Males weigh 10 to 16 g (0.35 to 0.56 oz) and females 12 to 16 g (0.42 to 0.56 oz). It has the typical kingfisher shape, with a shaggy... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Panama City | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 2 | São Paulo | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 3 | Rio de Janeiro | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report an American Pygmy Kingfisher sighting in Caroni Swamp on a given day, based on 194 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 27th most-seen of the 169 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 70%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June and November–December
In those months about 50% of wildlife watchers report an American Pygmy Kingfisher in Caroni Swamp on a given day, against about 10% in May, the lowest month.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most American Pygmy Kingfisher sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 33 parks where we can rate American Pygmy Kingfisher sightings, Caroni Swamp has the highest daily chance: about 30%. Next come Celestún Biosphere Reserve (Mexico, about 20%) and Yasuní National Park (Ecuador, about 20%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the American Pygmy Kingfisher is recorded against all the birds logged in Caroni Swamp (194 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.
