Myadestes occidentalis
Silhouette: Francesco "Architetto" Rollandin · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The brown-backed solitaire (Myadestes occidentalis) is a thrush found in montane pine-oak woodlands from Mexico to Honduras. The brown-backed solitaire was originally described as Myadestes obscurus. In 1882, Stejneger split it as the mainland Myadestes obscurus var occidentalis and Myadestes obscurus var. insularis, endemic to the Tres Marías Islands. However, the binomial Myadestes obscurus was later found to have been assigned to another species. By the principle of priority, Stejneger's two taxa were then named M. occidentalis occidentalis and M. occidentalis insularis.
The brown-backed solitaire is 20.5 to 21.5 cm (8.1 to 8.5 in) long and weighs 38 to 44 g (1.3 to 1.6 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies M. o. occidentalis have black lores with a white stripe above them, a broken white eye-ring, a white "moustache" stripe, black cheeks, and a white chin and upper... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | El Triunfo | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 2 | Reserva de la Biosfera Mariposa Monarca | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 3 | Cumbres de Monterrey National Park | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 4 | Celaque National Park | 🇭🇳 Honduras |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guatemala City | 🇬🇹 Guatemala | |
| 2 | Mexico City | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 3 | Puebla | 🇲🇽 México |
Likely
About 50% of wildlife watchers report a Brown-backed Solitaire sighting in El Triunfo on a given day, based on 145 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 5th most-seen of the 221 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April
In that month about 80% of wildlife watchers report a Brown-backed Solitaire in El Triunfo on a given day, against about 30% in August and December–February, the lowest months. That is one of El Triunfo's driest months, with about 65 mm of rain against 420 mm in June. June has too few records to rate.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Brown-backed Solitaire sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 4 parks where we can rate Brown-backed Solitaire sightings, El Triunfo has the highest daily chance: about 50%. Next come Reserva de la Biosfera Mariposa Monarca (Mexico, about 40%) and Cumbres de Monterrey National Park (Mexico, about 30%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Turdidae
The closest relatives of the Brown-backed Solitaire that you can see in El Triunfo (family Turdidae, Thrushes) are Clay-colored Thrush (about 80%), Swainson's Thrush (about 30%) and Yellow-throated Nightingale-Thrush (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Brown-backed Solitaire is recorded against all the birds logged in El Triunfo (145 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.
