Chelidoptera tenebrosa
Silhouette: Matt Wilkins (Photo by Len Blumin) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
The swallow-winged puffbird (Chelidoptera tenebrosa) is a species of near-passerine bird in the family Bucconidae, the puffbirds, nunlets, and nunbirds. It is also called the swallow-wing. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.
The swallow-winged puffbird was previously known as simply "swallow-wing" but its current name has been widely accepted since the late twentieth century. It is the only member of its genus. The swallow-winged puffbird is 14 to 15 cm (5.5 to 5.9 in) long and weighs 30 to 41.5 g (1.1 to 1.5 oz). The nominate subspecies has sooty black upperparts with some bluish iridescence. The lower back and rump are white. Its tail is short and black with white tips to the feathers that quickly wear away. The wings are long and pointed. The chin is whitish, the throat grayish, and the breast sooty black fading to gray in its lower part. Its belly is orange-chestnut. The bill is black, the eye dark brown, and the feet dark gray or black. C. t. brasiliensis is larger than... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manu National Park | 🇵🇪 Peru | |
| 2 | Anavilhanas National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 3 | Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 4 | Sierra de la Macarena National Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 5 | Yasuní National Park | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 6 | Tambopata National Reserve | 🇵🇪 Peru | |
| 7 | Chapada dos Guimarães National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 8 | Amacayacu National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Swallow-wing Puffbird sighting in Chapada dos Guimarães National Park on a given day, based on 111 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 89th most-seen of the 273 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August to October
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Swallow-wing Puffbird in Chapada dos Guimarães National Park on a given day, against under 5% in November, the lowest month. Those are among Chapada dos Guimarães National Park's driest months, with about 50 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 Swallow-wing Puffbird sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
7th of 8
Of the 8 parks where we can rate Swallow-wing Puffbird sightings, Chapada dos Guimarães National Park ranks 7th at about 10%. The best odds are in Manu National Park (Peru, about 30%), Anavilhanas National Park (Brazil, about 30%) and Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve (Ecuador, about 20%).
Same family: Bucconidae
The closest relatives of the Swallow-wing Puffbird that you can see in Chapada dos Guimarães National Park (family Bucconidae, Puffbirds) are Black-fronted Nunbird (about 20%), White-eared Puffbird (about 10%) and Spot-backed Puffbird (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Swallow-wing Puffbird is recorded against all the birds logged in Chapada dos Guimarães National Park (111 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.
