Ptilogonys cinereus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
The grey silky-flycatcher (Ptiliogonys cinereus) is a species of bird in the family Ptiliogonatidae. It is found in Guatemala and Mexico and as a vagrant in Texas, United States. The grey silky-flycatcher has these four subspecies:
The grey silky-flycatcher and the long-tailed silky-flycatcher (P. caudatus) are sister species. The grey silky-flycatcher is 18.5 to 21 cm (7.3 to 8.3 in) long. It is a slender bird with a prominent crest and a long tail. Adult males of the nominate subspecies P. c. cinereus have dusky lores, a white patch above the lores, a thin white eye-ring, and a white or brownish white chin and cheeks on an otherwise blue-gray head and crest. Their upperparts are blue-gray. Their flight feathers are black. Their central pair of tail feathers are black and the rest have a black base, a white upper half, and black lower half. Their throat and breast are gray, their belly whitish, their flanks golden-olive or yellow, and their undertail coverts bright yellow. Adult females have a gray head and... Wikipedia →
Recording0:21
Mexico · 2022
© -RodrigoFsc · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
Recording0:14
Mexico · 2025
© Sean Vanderluit · iNaturalist · CC BY 4.0
Recording0:12
Guatemala · 2026
© interianogt · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Reserva de la Biosfera Mariposa Monarca | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 2 | El Triunfo | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 3 | Cumbres de Monterrey National Park | 🇲🇽 Mexico |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Toluca | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 2 | Mexico City | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 3 | Guatemala City | 🇬🇹 Guatemala | |
| 4 | Puebla | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 5 | Guadalajara | 🇲🇽 México |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Gray Silky-flycatcher sighting in El Triunfo on a given day, based on 56 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 117th most-seen of the 221 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April
In that month about 60% of wildlife watchers report a Gray Silky-flycatcher in El Triunfo on a given day, against under 5% in February and November, 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 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Gray Silky-flycatcher sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
2nd of 3
Of the 3 parks where we can rate Gray Silky-flycatcher sightings, El Triunfo ranks 2nd at about 20%. The best odds are in Reserva de la Biosfera Mariposa Monarca (Mexico, about 30%).
Same order: Passeriformes
The closest relatives of the Gray Silky-flycatcher that you can see in El Triunfo (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are Clay-colored Thrush (about 80%), Melodious Blackbird (about 60%) and Social Flycatcher (about 60%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Gray Silky-flycatcher is recorded against all the birds logged in El Triunfo (56 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.
