Sooty Tyrannulet

Sooty Tyrannulet

Serpophaga nigricans

Silhouette: Emily Willoughby · PhyloPic

LCLeast ConcernNTVUENCR
Daily sighting probability <5% · Rare
at Curitiba

In 3 days ~10%

26 Verified sightings at Curitiba
884 In all 6 parks From 2019 to 2026
September Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Sooty Tyrannulet

The sooty tyrannulet (Serpophaga nigricans) is a species of bird in the family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers. It is small, usually weighing 9 grams with a length of 12 centimeters, and has gray or brownish-grey feathers with black tail feathers.

It is found in Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay; also southern Paraguay. A small extension of its range is in southeastern Bolivia. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist shrubland, rivers, and swamps. The sooty tyrannulet was first described by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot based on observations by the Spanish military officer Félix de Azara from 1805. Azara gave it the name "Tachuri obscurito menor". In 1817, Vieillot gave it the scientific name Sylvia nigricans. In 1927, the ornithologist Carl Eduard Hellmayr placed the sooty tyrannulet in the genus Serpophaga with the name Serpophaga nigricans. It does not have any subspecies. It was once thought be most closely related to Urich's tyrannulet, however a mitochondrial DNA study has shown that it is most closely related to the torrent tyrannulet.

The sooty tyrannulet is overall a dark grey colour, with a brownish tinge to... Wikipedia →

Sounds

Duet0:05

Brazil · 2025

© Robson Silva e Silva · XC1027673 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Call0:41

Brazil · 2023

© Vinícius Soares Domingues · XC839556 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Song0:32

Argentina · 2023

© Bernard BOUSQUET · XC824805 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Serra da Canastra National Park 🇧🇷 Brazil
~40%
2 Iberá National Park 🇦🇷 Argentina
~30%
3 Emas National Park 🇧🇷 Brazil
<5%
4 Itatiaia National Park 🇧🇷 Brazil
<5%
5 Iguaçu National Park 🇧🇷 Brazil
<5%
6 Iguazú National Park 🇦🇷 Argentina
<5%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Buenos Aires 🇦🇷 Argentina
<5%
2 Curitiba 🇧🇷 Brazil
<5%
3 Porto Alegre 🇧🇷 Brazil
<5%
4 Cordoba 🇦🇷 Argentina
<5%
5 São Paulo 🇧🇷 Brazil
<5%

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Sooty Tyrannulet in Curitiba?

Rare

Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Sooty Tyrannulet sighting in Curitiba on a given day, based on 26 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 175th most-seen of the 247 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Sooty Tyrannulet in Curitiba?

Any time of year

In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Sooty Tyrannulet in Curitiba on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.

What time of day is best to see a Sooty Tyrannulet?

Between 9 am and noon

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Sooty 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.

Is Curitiba the best place to see a Sooty Tyrannulet?

Among the best

Of the 5 cities where we can rate Sooty Tyrannulet sightings, Curitiba ranks 2nd at under 5%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Buenos Aires (Argentina, under 5%).

Where does the Sooty Tyrannulet sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Sooty Tyrannulet is recorded against all the birds logged in Curitiba (26 verified sightings), 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.

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