Merulaxis ater
Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
The slaty bristlefront (Merulaxis ater) is a member of the Neotropical bird family Rhinocryptidae, the tapaculos. It is endemic to south-east Brazil. The slaty bristlefront and Stresemann's bristlefront (Merulaxis stresemanni) form a superspecies, and the two might actually be one species. It has no subspecies.
The slaty bristlefront is 18.5 cm (7.3 in) long. A male weighed 37.2 g (1.31 oz) and a female 33 g (1.2 oz). The male is mostly dark blue gray. The lower back is dark brown and the flanks, vent, and tail are black. The female is over all shades of brown, lighter on the throat and breast. Both sexes have a crest of short stiff feathers that stand erect at the base of the bill and forehead.
The slaty bristlefront is found only in southeastern Brazil, in a narrow band near the Atlantic coast from Espírito Santo south to Santa Catarina. It might have formerly occurred further north in southern Bahia. The slaty bristlefront is a bird of humid forests in both lowlands and mountains. In a few locations it is found at elevations as low as 100 m (330 ft) but more typically its lower limit is 400 m (1,300... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Itatiaia National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
More parks will be added in future updates.
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Slaty Bristlefront sighting in Itatiaia National Park on a given day, based on 240 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 136th most-seen of the 352 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.
August to October
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Slaty Bristlefront in Itatiaia National Park on a given day, against under 5% in May, the lowest month.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Slaty Bristlefront 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 Itatiaia National Park, in our data
Itatiaia National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Slaty Bristlefront sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Slaty Bristlefront is recorded against all the birds logged in Itatiaia National Park (240 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.
