Scytalopus stilesi
Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
Stiles's tapaculo (Scytalopus stilesi) is a member of the tapaculos, a group of Neotropical birds. It was described as new to science in 2005. It has been found at 21 sites in montane forest between 1,420 and 2,130 m altitude in the northern Cordillera Central of the Colombian Andes; although having a restricted range, within this limited area it is a common understorey bird. Initially, it seemed as if the species would classify as near threatened (Cuervo et al. 2005), but it turned out to be more plentiful and thus is classified as species of least concern in the 2007 IUCN Red List.
The species was originally observed in the 1990s, but when Niels Krabbe examined recordings of their songs, his suspicions arose that they were a new species - Stiles's tapaculo's song is considerably faster and lower-pitched than that of the closely related Ecuadorian tapaculo S. robbinsi (Cuervo et al. 2005).
The species was named in honour of Frank Gary Stiles, an ornithologist who played a prominent role in research into Neotropical birds in the 1980s and 1990s. Cuervo, Andrés M.; Cadena, Carlos Daniel; Krabbe, Niels & Renjifo, Luis Miguel (2005): Scytalopus stilesi, a new species... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Los Nevados National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia |
More parks will be added in future updates.
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Stiles's Tapaculo sighting in Los Nevados National Natural Park on a given day, based on 227 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 170th most-seen of the 424 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February, July–August and December
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Stiles's Tapaculo in Los Nevados National Natural Park on a given day, against under 5% in January, March–June and September–November, the lowest months.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Stiles's Tapaculo sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Los Nevados National Natural Park, in our data
Los Nevados National Natural Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Stiles's Tapaculo sightings: under 5% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same genus: Scytalopus
The closest relatives of the Stiles's Tapaculo that you can see in Los Nevados National Natural Park (genus Scytalopus, Scytalopus Tapaculos) are Páramo Tapaculo (about 20%), Spillmann's Tapaculo (about 10%) and Blackish Tapaculo (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Stiles's Tapaculo is recorded against all the birds logged in Los Nevados National Natural Park (227 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.
