Elaenia sordida
Silhouette: Edwin Price · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
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 |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Small-headed Elaenia sighting in Itatiaia National Park on a given day, based on 120 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 184th most-seen of the 352 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June and August–November
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Small-headed Elaenia in Itatiaia National Park on a given day, against under 5% in July and December–May, the lowest months.
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.
3rd of 5
Of the 5 parks where we can rate Small-headed Elaenia sightings, Itatiaia National Park ranks 3rd at about 10%. The best odds are in Chapada Diamantina National Park (Brazil, about 20%) and Serra da Canastra National Park (Brazil, about 20%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Small-headed Elaenia is recorded against all the birds logged in Itatiaia National Park (120 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.
