Orange-eyed Thornbird

Orange-eyed Thornbird

Phacellodomus erythrophthalmus

Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic

LCLeast ConcernNTVUENCR Endemic
Daily sighting probability ~10% · With luck
at Itatiaia National Park

In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%

180 Verified sightings at Itatiaia National Park From 2019 to 2026
242 In all 2 parks
September Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Orange-eyed Thornbird

The orange-eyed thornbird (Phacellodomus erythrophthalmus) is a species of bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is endemic to Brazil. The orange-eyed thornbird is monotypic. However, what is now the orange-breasted thornbird (P. ferrugineigula) was previously treated as a subspecies of it under the common name red-eyed thornbird. In addition to differences in eye and plumage color, the two taxa have different voices and are locally sympatric in São Paulo state without evidence of interbreeding. For a while after the two were split, some taxonomic systems continued to use "red-eyed" for P. erythrophthalmus and others used it for P. ferrugineigula. The current "orange-eyed" and "orange-breasted" English names were adopted to avoid confusion with the former "red-eyed".

To further complicate matters, for a time in the early twentieth century some authors placed the former two-subspecies red-eyed thornbird alone in genus Drioctistes. Later some authors, but not all, merged that genus into Phacellodomus. A 2011 publication placed the two current species firmly in Phacellodomus.

The orange-eyed thornbird... Wikipedia →

Sounds

Canto/chamado1:04

Brazil · 2019

© Caio Brito · XC556480 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Song0:11

Brazil · 2018

© Fernando Igor de Godoy · XC422987 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Call0:09

Brazil · 2015

© Jerome Fischer · XC294521 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Itatiaia National Park 🇧🇷 Brazil
~10%
2 Serra dos Órgãos National Park 🇧🇷 Brazil
~10%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 São Paulo 🇧🇷 Brazil
<5%

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing an Orange-eyed Thornbird in Itatiaia National Park?

With luck

About 10% of wildlife watchers report an Orange-eyed Thornbird sighting in Itatiaia National Park on a given day, based on 180 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 153rd most-seen of the 352 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see an Orange-eyed Thornbird in Itatiaia National Park?

Any time of year

In every month with enough records, about 10% of wildlife watchers report an Orange-eyed Thornbird in Itatiaia National Park on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.

What time of day is best to see an Orange-eyed Thornbird?

Between 7 and 10 am

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Orange-eyed Thornbird sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.

Is Itatiaia National Park the best place to see an Orange-eyed Thornbird?

Yes

Of the 2 parks where we can rate Orange-eyed Thornbird sightings, Itatiaia National Park has the highest daily chance: about 10%. Next come Serra dos Órgãos National Park (Brazil, about 10%).

Where does the Orange-eyed Thornbird sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Orange-eyed Thornbird is recorded against all the birds logged in Itatiaia National Park (180 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.

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