Elaenia spectabilis
Silhouette: Edwin Price · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The large elaenia (Elaenia spectabilis) is a species of bird in subfamily Elaeniinae of family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay.
The large elaenia is monotypic. In the mid twentieth century at least one author treated the large elaenia and the yellow-bellied elaenia (E. flavogaster) as conspecific. During the period several authors suggested that the Noronha elaenia (E. ridleyana) should be treated as a subspecies of the large elaenia. That suggestion did not gain wide acceptance and by the 1990s had been shown to be wrong.
The large elaenia is 16.5 to 18 cm (6.5 to 7.1 in) long and weighs 20 to 35 g (0.71 to 1.2 oz). It is a large elaenia with a small crest. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a mostly olive-brown head with a minimal or no white stripe in the middle of the crest. Their upperparts are dark grayish olive. Their wings are dusky with white tips on the coverts that show as three wing bars. Their tail is dusky. Their throat is grayish, their breast dark olive-gray, and their belly and undertail undertail coverts yellow. Both... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Iberá National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 2 | El Impenetrable National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 3 | Iguazú National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 4 | Chapada dos Guimarães National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 5 | Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 6 | Iguaçu National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 7 | Anavilhanas National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 8 | Chapada Diamantina National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 9 | Amacayacu National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 10 | Serra da Canastra National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 11 | Manu National Park | 🇵🇪 Peru | |
| 12 | Tambopata National Reserve | 🇵🇪 Peru |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Campo Grande | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 2 | Asuncion | 🇵🇾 Paraguay | |
| 3 | São Paulo | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 4 | Goiânia | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 5 | Belo Horizonte | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 6 | Manaus | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 7 | Buenos Aires | 🇦🇷 Argentina |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Large Elaenia sighting in Chapada dos Guimarães National Park on a given day, based on 36 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 159th most-seen of the 273 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.
August and October
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Large Elaenia in Chapada dos Guimarães National Park on a given day, against under 5% in May–July, September and November–January, the lowest months. Those are among Chapada dos Guimarães National Park's driest months, with about 60 mm of rain a month against 240 mm in March. February to April have too few records to rate.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Large Elaenia 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 12
Of the 12 parks where we can rate Large Elaenia sightings, Chapada dos Guimarães National Park ranks 4th at about 10%. The best odds are in Iberá National Park (Argentina, about 20%), El Impenetrable National Park (Argentina, about 10%) and Iguazú National Park (Argentina, about 10%).
Same genus: Elaenia
The closest relatives of the Large Elaenia that you can see in Chapada dos Guimarães National Park (genus Elaenia, Typical Elaenias) are Yellow-bellied Elaenia (about 30%), Plain-crested Elaenia (about 20%) and Small-billed Elaenia (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Large Elaenia is recorded against all the birds logged in Chapada dos Guimarães National Park (36 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.
