Spectacled Tyrant

Spectacled Tyrant

Hymenops perspicillatus

Silhouette: Emily Willoughby · PhyloPic

LCLeast ConcernNTVUENCR
Daily sighting probability <5% · Rare
at Santa Cruz de la Sierra

In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%

10 Verified sightings at Santa Cruz de la Sierra
1,138 In all 5 parks From 2019 to 2026
July Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Spectacled Tyrant

The spectacled tyrant (Hymenops perspicillatus) is a species of bird in the family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, and as a vagrant to Peru. The spectacled tyrant was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the wagtails in the genus Motacilla and coined the binomial name Motacilla perspicillata. Gmelin based his description on "Le clignot ou traquet à lunette" that had been described in 1778 by the French polymath the Comte de Buffon in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux. The spectacled tyrant is now the only species in genus Hymenops that was introduced in 1828 by the French naturalist René Lesson. The genus name is from Ancient Greek humēn meaning "skin" or "membrane" and ōps meaning "eye". The specific epithet perspicillatus is Modern Latin meaning "spectacled". Within the family Tyrannidae the spectacled tyrant is sister to the genus Knipolegus containing the black tyrants.

The spectacled tyrant has two subspecies, the nominate H. p. perspicillatus (Gmelin... Wikipedia →

Sounds

Call1:10

Chile · 2014

© Francisco Rivas Fuenzalida · XC176371 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Wing noise0:57

Argentina · 2017

© Étienne Leroy · XC396617 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Call0:07

Chile · 2012

© Andrew Spencer · XC115725 · CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Iberá National Park 🇦🇷 Argentina
~40%
2 Nahuel Huapi National Park 🇦🇷 Argentina
~20%
3 Torres del Paine National Park 🇨🇱 Chile
~10%
4 Vicente Pérez Rosales National Park 🇨🇱 Chile
~10%
5 El Palmar National Park 🇦🇷 Argentina
<5%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Rosario 🇦🇷 Argentina
~20%
2 Buenos Aires 🇦🇷 Argentina
~10%
3 Santa Cruz de la Sierra 🇧🇴 Bolivia
<5%
4 Montevideo 🇺🇾 Uruguay
<5%
5 Cordoba 🇦🇷 Argentina
<5%
6 Asuncion 🇵🇾 Paraguay
<5%
7 São Paulo 🇧🇷 Brazil
<5%

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Spectacled Tyrant in Santa Cruz de la Sierra?

Rare

Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Spectacled Tyrant sighting in Santa Cruz de la Sierra on a given day, based on 10 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 161st most-seen of the 208 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Spectacled Tyrant in Santa Cruz de la Sierra?

July and August

In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Spectacled Tyrant in Santa Cruz de la Sierra on a given day, against under 5% in September to June, the lowest months. Those are among Santa Cruz de la Sierra's driest months, with about 40 mm of rain a month against 170 mm in January.

What time of day is best to see a Spectacled Tyrant?

Between 3 and 6 pm

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Spectacled Tyrant 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 Santa Cruz de la Sierra the best place to see a Spectacled Tyrant?

3rd of 7

Of the 7 cities where we can rate Spectacled Tyrant sightings, Santa Cruz de la Sierra ranks 3rd at under 5%. The best odds are in Rosario (Argentina, about 20%) and Buenos Aires (Argentina, about 10%).

Which relatives of the Spectacled Tyrant live in Santa Cruz de la Sierra?

Same family: Tyrannidae

The closest relatives of the Spectacled Tyrant that you can see in Santa Cruz de la Sierra (family Tyrannidae, Tyrant Flycatchers) are Great Kiskadee (about 50%), Tropical Kingbird (about 30%) and Eastern Kingbird (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.

Where does the Spectacled Tyrant sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Spectacled Tyrant is recorded against all the birds logged in Santa Cruz de la Sierra (10 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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