Sayornis nigricans
Silhouette: Emily Willoughby · PhyloPic
In 3 days >90%
The black phoebe (Sayornis nigricans) is a passerine bird in the tyrant-flycatcher family. It breeds from southwest Oregon and California south through Central and South America. It occurs year-round throughout most of its range and migrates less than the other birds in its genus though its northern populations are partially migratory. Six subspecies are commonly recognized although two are occasionally combined as a separate species, the white-winged phoebe.
The black phoebe has predominantly black plumage, with a white belly and undertail coverts. The sexes are identical in color, and juveniles have brown feather tips and brown wing-bars. Its song is a repeated tee-hee, tee ho. It lives in a variety of habitats but is always near water. It is mainly insectivorous and waits on a perch before sallying out and catching its prey in the air. It makes an open cup nest which is placed under a cliff or a bridge and cemented in its place with mud.
The black phoebe is a medium-sized flycatcher, being 16 cm (6.3 in) in length and weighing 15 to 22 g (0.5 to 0.8 oz). It has predominantly black plumage, with white on its belly and undertail coverts. The white forms an inverted... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tijuana | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 2 | Sacramento | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Los Angeles | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | San Francisco | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | San Diego | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Mesa | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Monterrey | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 8 | León | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 9 | Las Vegas | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Toluca | 🇲🇽 México |
Very likely
About 70% of wildlife watchers report a Black Phoebe sighting in San Francisco on a given day, based on 80,614 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 4th most-seen of the 375 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September–October and December
In those months about 80% of wildlife watchers report a Black Phoebe in San Francisco on a given day, against about 50% in May, the lowest month.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Black Phoebe 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 27
Of the 27 cities where we can rate Black Phoebe sightings, San Francisco ranks 4th at about 70%. The best odds are in Tijuana (México, about 80%), Sacramento (United States, about 80%) and Los Angeles (United States, about 80%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Black Phoebe is recorded against all the birds logged in San Francisco (80,614 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.
