Elaenia sordida
Silhouette: Edwin Price · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5%
The small-headed elaenia (Elaenia sordida), also known as the Brazilian elaenia, is a species of bird in subfamily Elaeniinae of family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers. It is found in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
The small-headed elaenia is monotypic. It was previously treated as a subspecies of the highland elaenia (E. obscura); between 2016 and 2020 taxonomic systems split the two. The small-headed elaenia is 16 to 20 cm (6.3 to 7.9 in) long and weighs 24 to 34.5 g (0.85 to 1.2 oz). It is a large elaenia without a crest. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a dark olive head with lighter cheeks, a dusky loral spot, and a thin whitish eyering. Their upperparts are dark olive. Their wings are mostly dusky with pale edges on the flight feathers. The tips of their wing coverts are whitish to yellowish and show as two bars on the closed wing. Their tail is dusky with white tips on unworn feathers. Their chin and throat are grayish yellow, their breast and flanks dull gray-olive, and their belly and undertail coverts grayish yellow. Both sexes have a brown iris, a stubby blackish brown to black bill with a pinkish... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chapada Diamantina National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 2 | Serra da Canastra National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 3 | Itatiaia National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 4 | Iguazú National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 5 | Iguaçu National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Porto Alegre | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 2 | Curitiba | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 3 | São Paulo | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Small-headed Elaenia sighting in Iguazú National Park on a given day, based on 33 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 277th most-seen of the 343 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Small-headed Elaenia in Iguazú National Park on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Small-headed Elaenia 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 5
Of the 5 parks where we can rate Small-headed Elaenia sightings, Iguazú National Park ranks 4th at under 5%. The best odds are in Chapada Diamantina National Park (Brazil, about 20%), Serra da Canastra National Park (Brazil, about 20%) and Itatiaia National Park (Brazil, about 10%).
Same genus: Elaenia
The closest relatives of the Small-headed Elaenia that you can see in Iguazú National Park (genus Elaenia, Typical Elaenias) are Yellow-bellied Elaenia (about 10%) and Large Elaenia (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Small-headed Elaenia is recorded against all the birds logged in Iguazú 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.
