Donacobius atricapilla
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The black-capped donacobius (Donacobius atricapilla) is a conspicuous, vocal South American bird and the only bird in the genus Donacobius and family Donacobiidae. It is distributed across the northern half of South America.
In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the black-capped donacobius in his Ornithologie based on a specimen that he mistakenly believed had been collected from the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. He used the French name Le merle a test noire de Cap de Bonne Espérance and the Latin Merula Atricapilla Capitis Bonae Spei. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson. One of these was the black-capped donacobius. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Turdus atricapilla and cited Brisson's work. The type location was subsequently corrected to eastern Brazil. The specific name atricapilla is Latin for... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 2 | Iberá National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 3 | Amacayacu National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 4 | Yasuní National Park | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 5 | Manu National Park | 🇵🇪 Peru | |
| 6 | Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 7 | Tambopata National Reserve | 🇵🇪 Peru | |
| 8 | Serra da Canastra National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 9 | Iguaçu National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 10 | Iguazú National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 11 | Chapada Diamantina National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 12 | Itatiaia National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rio de Janeiro | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 2 | Belo Horizonte | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 3 | Goiânia | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 4 | Maceió | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 5 | Valencia | 🇻🇪 Venezuela | |
| 6 | São Paulo | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Black-capped Donacobius sighting in Iguazú National Park on a given day, based on 140 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 199th most-seen of the 343 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Black-capped Donacobius in Iguazú National Park on a given day, against under 5% in October to August, the lowest months.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Black-capped Donacobius sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
10th of 12
Of the 12 parks where we can rate Black-capped Donacobius sightings, Iguazú National Park ranks 10th at under 5%. The best odds are in Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas (Brazil, about 70%), Iberá National Park (Argentina, about 30%) and Amacayacu National Natural Park (Colombia, about 30%). All parks ranked.
Same order: Passeriformes
The closest relatives of the Black-capped Donacobius that you can see in Iguazú National Park (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are Great Kiskadee (about 80%), Pale-breasted Thrush (about 70%) and Plush-crested Jay (about 60%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Black-capped Donacobius is recorded against all the birds logged in Iguazú National Park (140 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.
