Serpophaga nigricans
Silhouette: Emily Willoughby · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
The sooty tyrannulet (Serpophaga nigricans) is a species of bird in the family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers. It is small, usually weighing 9 grams with a length of 12 centimeters, and has gray or brownish-grey feathers with black tail feathers.
It is found in Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay; also southern Paraguay. A small extension of its range is in southeastern Bolivia. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist shrubland, rivers, and swamps. The sooty tyrannulet was first described by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot based on observations by the Spanish military officer Félix de Azara from 1805. Azara gave it the name "Tachuri obscurito menor". In 1817, Vieillot gave it the scientific name Sylvia nigricans. In 1927, the ornithologist Carl Eduard Hellmayr placed the sooty tyrannulet in the genus Serpophaga with the name Serpophaga nigricans. It does not have any subspecies. It was once thought be most closely related to Urich's tyrannulet, however a mitochondrial DNA study has shown that it is most closely related to the torrent tyrannulet.
The sooty tyrannulet is overall a dark grey colour, with a brownish tinge to... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Serra da Canastra National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 2 | Iberá National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 3 | Emas National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 4 | Itatiaia National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 5 | Iguaçu National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 6 | Iguazú National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Buenos Aires | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 2 | Curitiba | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 3 | Porto Alegre | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 4 | Cordoba | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 5 | São Paulo | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Sooty Tyrannulet sighting in Itatiaia National Park on a given day, based on 32 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 267th most-seen of the 352 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March and December
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Sooty Tyrannulet in Itatiaia National Park on a given day, against under 5% in January–February and April–November, the lowest months. Those are among Itatiaia National Park's wettest months, with about 290 mm of rain a month against 25 mm in July.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Sooty Tyrannulet 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 6
Of the 6 parks where we can rate Sooty Tyrannulet sightings, Itatiaia National Park ranks 4th at under 5%. The best odds are in Serra da Canastra National Park (Brazil, about 40%), Iberá National Park (Argentina, about 30%) and Emas National Park (Brazil, under 5%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Sooty Tyrannulet is recorded against all the birds logged in Itatiaia National Park (32 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.
