Phacellodomus erythrophthalmus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
The orange-eyed thornbird (Phacellodomus erythrophthalmus) is a species of bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is endemic to Brazil. The orange-eyed thornbird is monotypic. However, what is now the orange-breasted thornbird (P. ferrugineigula) was previously treated as a subspecies of it under the common name red-eyed thornbird. In addition to differences in eye and plumage color, the two taxa have different voices and are locally sympatric in São Paulo state without evidence of interbreeding. For a while after the two were split, some taxonomic systems continued to use "red-eyed" for P. erythrophthalmus and others used it for P. ferrugineigula. The current "orange-eyed" and "orange-breasted" English names were adopted to avoid confusion with the former "red-eyed".
To further complicate matters, for a time in the early twentieth century some authors placed the former two-subspecies red-eyed thornbird alone in genus Drioctistes. Later some authors, but not all, merged that genus into Phacellodomus. A 2011 publication placed the two current species firmly in Phacellodomus.
The orange-eyed thornbird... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Itatiaia National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 2 | Serra dos Órgãos National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | São Paulo | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report an Orange-eyed Thornbird sighting in São Paulo on a given day, based on 254 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 148th most-seen of the 353 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report an Orange-eyed Thornbird in São Paulo on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Orange-eyed Thornbird 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 São Paulo, in our data
São Paulo is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Orange-eyed Thornbird sightings: under 5% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same family: Furnariidae
The closest relatives of the Orange-eyed Thornbird that you can see in São Paulo (family Furnariidae, Ovenbirds and Woodcreepers) are Rufous Hornero (about 60%), Spix's Spinetail (about 10%) and Yellow-chinned Spinetail (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Orange-eyed Thornbird is recorded against all the birds logged in São Paulo (254 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.
