Notiochelidon pileata
Silhouette: Matt Wilkins · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
The black-capped swallow (Atticora pileata) is a species of bird in the family Hirundinidae, the swallows and martins. It is found in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Mexico. The black-capped swallow was described in 1858 as Atticora pileata. For much of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first it was reclassified in genus Notiochelidon. Based in part on a study published in 2005, beginning in 2016 taxonomic systems returned it to Atticora.
The black-capped swallow is monotypic. The black-capped swallow is about 11.5 to 13.5 cm (4.5 to 5.3 in) long and weighs about 12 g (0.42 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a glossy black head with brown-speckled white cheeks and throat. Their back is sepia brown, their rump a darker brown, and their uppertail coverts dark sooty brown. Their tail longish, forked, and dull sooty black. Their wing's lesser coverts are black to brownish black, their secondary and inner greater coverts are dark grayish brown, and their flight feathers brownish black. The center of their breast and their belly are white, their flanks grayish brown, and their undertail coverts sooty black or very... Wikipedia →
Recording
© Peter Boesman · XCXC879976 · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Recording
© Brendan Sloan · XCXC919845 · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Recording
© Alfonso Auerbach · XCXC488526 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | El Triunfo | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 2 | Celaque National Park | 🇭🇳 Honduras |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guatemala City | 🇬🇹 Guatemala |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Black-capped Swallow sighting in Guatemala City on a given day, based on 306 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 76th most-seen of the 220 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January–May, August and November
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Black-capped Swallow in Guatemala City on a given day, against under 5% in June–July, September–October and December, the lowest months.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Black-capped Swallow sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Guatemala City, in our data
Guatemala City is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Black-capped Swallow sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Black-capped Swallow is recorded against all the birds logged in Guatemala City (306 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.
