Pyrocephalus rubinus
Silhouette: Emily Willoughby · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
The scarlet flycatcher or austral vermilion flycatcher (Pyrocephalus rubinus) is a passerine bird in the family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay.
The scarlet flycatcher was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1779 in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-colored plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text. Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial name Muscicapa rubinus in his catalogue of the Planches Enluminées. The type locality was restricted to Tefé on the Amazon River by the American ornithologist John T. Zimmer in 1941. The scarlet flycatcher is now placed in the genus Pyrocephalus that was introduced in 1839 by the English ornithologist and bird artist John Gould. The generic name combines the Ancient Greek purrhos meaning "flame-colored... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | León | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 2 | Puebla | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 3 | Lima | 🇵🇪 Peru | |
| 4 | Guadalajara | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 5 | Toluca | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 6 | San Luis Potosí | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 7 | Mexico City | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 8 | Medellín | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 9 | Quito | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 10 | Cali | 🇨🇴 Colombia |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Butterfly World | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Vermilion Flycatcher sighting in Joshua Tree National Park on a given day, based on 251 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 39th most-seen of the 141 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.
September
In that month about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Vermilion Flycatcher in Joshua Tree National Park on a given day, against under 5% in January to April, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Vermilion Flycatcher sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
15th of 36
Of the 36 parks where we can rate Vermilion Flycatcher sightings, Joshua Tree National Park ranks 15th at about 10%. The best odds are in Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas (Brazil, about 40%), Big Bend National Park (United States, about 40%) and Bahía de Loreto National Park (Mexico, about 30%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Tyrannidae
The closest relatives of the Vermilion Flycatcher that you can see in Joshua Tree National Park (family Tyrannidae, Tyrant Flycatchers) are Say's Phoebe (about 40%), Ash-throated Flycatcher (about 20%) and Black Phoebe (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Vermilion Flycatcher is recorded against all the birds logged in Joshua Tree National Park (251 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.
