Elaenia albiceps
Silhouette: Edwin Price · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
The white-crested elaenia (Elaenia albiceps) is a species of bird in subfamily Elaeniinae of family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers. It is found in Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. The white-crested elaenia was formally described in 1837 as Muscipeta albiceps by the French naturalists Alcide d'Orbigny and Frédéric de Lafresnaye. They noted that the species occurred in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, the Yungas region in Bolivia and the Tacna region of Peru. In 1925 the Austrian ornithologist Carl Eduard Hellmayr restricted the type locality to the Yungas region in Bolivia based on the provenance of the type species. The specific epithet albiceps combines the Latin albus meaning "white" with -ceps meaning "-headed". The white-crested elaenia is now placed in the genus Elaenia that was introduced in 1836 by the Swedish zoologist Carl Jakob Sundevall.
Six subspecies are recognised: Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tierra del Fuego National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 2 | Vicente Pérez Rosales National Park | 🇨🇱 Chile | |
| 3 | Nahuel Huapi National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 4 | Torres del Paine National Park | 🇨🇱 Chile | |
| 5 | Chapada dos Guimarães National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 6 | Podocarpus National Park | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 7 | Amboró National Park | 🇧🇴 Bolivia | |
| 8 | Chapada Diamantina National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 9 | Lauca National Park | 🇨🇱 Chile | |
| 10 | Manu National Park | 🇵🇪 Peru |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Santiago | 🇨🇱 Chile | |
| 2 | Quito | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 3 | Mendoza | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 4 | Cordoba | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 5 | Arequipa | 🇵🇪 Peru | |
| 6 | Cochabamba | 🇧🇴 Bolivia | |
| 7 | Buenos Aires | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 8 | Montevideo | 🇺🇾 Uruguay | |
| 9 | São Paulo | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 10 | Lima | 🇵🇪 Peru |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a White-crested Elaenia sighting in Lauca National Park on a given day, based on 5 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 112th most-seen of the 112 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.
January
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a White-crested Elaenia in Lauca National Park on a given day, against under 5% in February to December, the lowest months. That is one of Lauca National Park's wettest months, with about 150 mm of rain against almost none in May.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most White-crested 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.
9th of 10
Of the 10 parks where we can rate White-crested Elaenia sightings, Lauca National Park ranks 9th at under 5%. The best odds are in Tierra del Fuego National Park (Argentina, about 70%), Vicente Pérez Rosales National Park (Chile, about 60%) and Nahuel Huapi National Park (Argentina, about 50%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Tyrannidae
The closest relatives of the White-crested Elaenia that you can see in Lauca National Park (family Tyrannidae, Tyrant Flycatchers) are White-fronted Ground-Tyrant (about 60%), Puna Ground-Tyrant (about 60%) and Andean Negrito (about 50%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the White-crested Elaenia is recorded against all the birds logged in Lauca National Park (5 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.
