Phacellodomus ruber
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
The greater thornbird (Phacellodomus ruber) is a species of bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. The greater thornbird is monotypic. It and the freckle-breasted thornbird (P. striaticollis) are sister species.
The greater thornbird is 19 to 21 cm (7.5 to 8.3 in) long and weighs about 35 to 51 g (1.2 to 1.8 oz). It is heaviest and reddest thornbird. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a mostly rufescent brown to grayish brown face with a paler supercilium and ear coverts and a whitish malar area. Their crown is reddish chestnut with pale streaks, their back rich reddish brown to olive-brown that sometimes becomes chestnut on the lower back, their rump a lighter rufescent brown, and their uppertail coverts chestnut. Their wings are a nearly uniform rufous-chestnut and their tail reddish chestnut. Their throat is whitish, their breast pale with a light brownish tinge, their belly whitish, and their undertail coverts light rufescent brown. Their iris is light yellow to orange, their maxilla blackish to dark grayish horn, their mandible... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Iberá National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 2 | Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 3 | Emas National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 4 | El Impenetrable National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rosario | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 2 | Asuncion | 🇵🇾 Paraguay | |
| 3 | Santa Cruz de la Sierra | 🇧🇴 Bolivia | |
| 4 | Campo Grande | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 5 | Brasilia | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 6 | Buenos Aires | 🇦🇷 Argentina |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Greater Thornbird sighting in El Impenetrable National Park on a given day, based on 33 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 121st most-seen of the 219 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.
May–June and October
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Greater Thornbird in El Impenetrable National Park on a given day, against under 5% in April and July, the lowest months. December has too few records to rate.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Greater 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.
4th of 4
Of the 4 parks where we can rate Greater Thornbird sightings, El Impenetrable National Park ranks 4th at about 10%. The best odds are in Iberá National Park (Argentina, about 60%), Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas (Brazil, about 30%) and Emas National Park (Brazil, about 20%).
Same genus: Phacellodomus
The closest relatives of the Greater Thornbird that you can see in El Impenetrable National Park (genus Phacellodomus, Thornbirds) are Rufous-fronted Thornbird (about 30%) and Little Thornbird (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Greater Thornbird is recorded against all the birds logged in El Impenetrable National Park (33 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.
