Polioptila plumbea
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The tropical gnatcatcher (Polioptila plumbea) is a small active insectivorous songbird, which is a resident species throughout a large part of northern South America. It was formerly considered as conspecific with the white-browed gnatcatcher and the Marañón gnatcatcher.
The tropical gnatcatcher was formally described in 1788 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it in the genus Todus, coined the binomial name Todus plumbeus and specified the type locality as Suriname in South America. The specific epithet plumbeus is Latin meaning "plumbeous" or "lead-coloured". Gmelin based his account on the "Plumbeous tody" that had been described in 1782 by the English ornithologist John Latham in his book A General Synopsis of Birds. Latham had examined a specimen in the collection of the British Museum. The tropical gnatcatcher is now one of 17 gnatcatchers placed in the genus Polioptila that was introduced in 1855 by the English zoologist Philip Sclater.
The tropical gnatcatcher was formerly considered to conspecific with the white-browed gnatcatcher (Polioptila bilineata) and the Marañón... Wikipedia →
Likely
About 50% of wildlife watchers report a Tropical Gnatcatcher sighting in Machalilla National Park on a given day, based on 402 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 10th most-seen of the 248 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
October and December
In those months about 60% of wildlife watchers report a Tropical Gnatcatcher in Machalilla National Park on a given day, against about 30% in June, the lowest month. Those are among Machalilla National Park's driest months, with about 20 mm of rain a month against 140 mm in February.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Tropical Gnatcatcher sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 41 parks where we can rate Tropical Gnatcatcher sightings, Machalilla National Park ranks 2nd at about 50%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Coiba National Park (Panama, about 50%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Tropical Gnatcatcher is recorded against all the birds logged in Machalilla National Park (402 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.
