Cercomacra melanaria
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%
The Mato Grosso antbird (Cercomacra melanaria) is a species of bird in subfamily Thamnophilinae of family Thamnophilidae, the "typical antbirds". It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay. The Mato Grosso antbird was formally described in 1835 by the French zoologist Édouard Ménétries under the binomial name Formicivora melanaria.
The specific epithet is from Latin melania meaning "blackness". The type locality is the town of Cuiabá in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso. This antbird is now placed in the genus Cercomacra that was introduced by the English zoologist Philip Sclater in 1858. The species is monotypic: No subspecies are recognized.
A 2014 study confirmed what had been earlier suggested, that the Mato Grosso antbird and the bananal (C. ferdinandi), Rio Branco (C. carbonaria), and jet (C. nigricans) antbirds form a clade within genus Cercomacra. The Mato Grosso antbird is 16 to 16.5 cm (6.3 to 6.5 in) long and weighs 18.5 to 19.5 g (0.65 to 0.69 oz). Adult males are almost entirely black, with white edges on their outer scapulars, a white patch between them, and a hidden white patch under them. Their wing coverts and tail... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
More parks will be added in future updates.
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Mato Grosso Antbird sighting in Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas on a given day, based on 353 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 98th most-seen of the 308 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 50%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May
In that month about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Mato Grosso Antbird in Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas on a given day, against about 10% in November, the lowest month. That is one of Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas's driest months, with about 35 mm of rain against 190 mm in January. January to April have too few records to rate.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Mato Grosso Antbird sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas, in our data
Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Mato Grosso Antbird sightings: about 20% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same family: Thamnophilidae
The closest relatives of the Mato Grosso Antbird that you can see in Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas (family Thamnophilidae, Typical Antbirds) are Great Antshrike (about 20%) and Barred Antshrike (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Mato Grosso Antbird is recorded against all the birds logged in Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas (353 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.
