Polioptila melanura
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
The black-tailed gnatcatcher (Polioptila melanura) is a small, insectivorous bird which ranges throughout the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Deserts of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. It is nonmigratory and found in arid desert areas year-round.
The black-tailed gnatcatcher was described by American ornithologist George Newbold Lawrence in 1857. Meaning 'black-tailed', its specific name is derived from the Ancient Greek melano- 'black' and oura 'tail'. The black-tailed gnatcatcher reaches about 4.5 to 5 inches in length, much of it taken up by a long black tail lined with white outer feathers. The body is blue-grey, with white underparts, and while it is similar to the blue-grey gnatcatcher, the two birds are differentiated by the amount of black in the tail feathers. The male has a black cap during the summer that extends to the eyes. Females and winter males, lacking the black cap, are difficult to distinguish from the blue-grey gnatcatcher. The best way to tell the two apart is the tail; that of the blue-grey is mostly white when viewed from below, and the black-tailed is predominantly black underneath. Like other gnatcatchers, it... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Saguaro National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Big Bend National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Joshua Tree National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Death Valley National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Cumbres de Monterrey National Park | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 6 | Guadalupe Mountains National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Black-tailed Gnatcatcher sighting in Death Valley National Park on a given day, based on 100 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 71st most-seen of the 213 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April and June
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Black-tailed Gnatcatcher in Death Valley National Park on a given day, against under 5% in March and July, the lowest months. Those are among Death Valley National Park's driest months, with about 10 mm of rain a month against 30 mm in March.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Black-tailed Gnatcatcher 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 6
Of the 6 parks where we can rate Black-tailed Gnatcatcher sightings, Death Valley National Park ranks 4th at about 10%. The best odds are in Saguaro National Park (United States, about 30%), Big Bend National Park (United States, about 30%) and Joshua Tree National Park (United States, about 20%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Black-tailed Gnatcatcher is recorded against all the birds logged in Death Valley National Park (100 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.
