Synallaxis gujanensis
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
The plain-crowned spinetail (Synallaxis gujanensis) is a species of bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.
The plain-crowned spinetail 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 gujanensis. Gmelin based his description on "Le rouge-queue de la Guyanne" that had been described and illustrated in 1778 by the French polymath, the Comte de Buffon. The specific epithet gujanensis is from the type locality, the Guianas. The plain-crowned spinetail is one of 37 spinetails in the genus Synallaxis that was introduced in 1818 by Louis Pierre Vieillot.
Six subspecies are recognized: What are in 2023 the Araguaia spinetail (S. simoni), the white-lored spinetail... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manu National Park | 🇵🇪 Peru | |
| 2 | Tambopata National Reserve | 🇵🇪 Peru | |
| 3 | Sierra de la Macarena National Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 4 | Amacayacu National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 5 | Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve | 🇪🇨 Ecuador |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Belém | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Plain-crowned Spinetail sighting in Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve on a given day, based on 5 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 307th most-seen of the 328 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 a Plain-crowned Spinetail in Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Plain-crowned Spinetail sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
5th of 5
Of the 5 parks where we can rate Plain-crowned Spinetail sightings, Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve ranks 5th at under 5%. The best odds are in Manu National Park (Peru, about 20%), Tambopata National Reserve (Peru, about 10%) and Sierra de la Macarena National Park (Colombia, under 5%).
Same family: Furnariidae
The closest relatives of the Plain-crowned Spinetail that you can see in Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve (family Furnariidae, Ovenbirds and Woodcreepers) are Long-billed Woodcreeper (about 30%), Buff-throated Woodcreeper (about 20%) and Striped Woodcreeper (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Plain-crowned Spinetail is recorded against all the birds logged in Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve (5 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
