Plain-crowned Spinetail

Plain-crowned Spinetail

Synallaxis gujanensis

Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic

LCLeast ConcernNTVUENCR
Daily sighting probability ~20% · Possible
at Manu National Park

In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%

711 Verified sightings at Manu National Park From 2019 to 2026
1,040 In all 5 parks
March Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Plain-crowned Spinetail

The plain-crowned spinetail (Synallaxis gujanensis) is a species of bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.

The plain-crowned spinetail was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the wagtails in the genus Motacilla and coined the binomial name Motacilla gujanensis. Gmelin based his description on "Le rouge-queue de la Guyanne" that had been described and illustrated in 1778 by the French polymath, the Comte de Buffon. The specific epithet gujanensis is from the type locality, the Guianas. The plain-crowned spinetail is one of 37 spinetails in the genus Synallaxis that was introduced in 1818 by Louis Pierre Vieillot.

Six subspecies are recognized: What are in 2023 the Araguaia spinetail (S. simoni), the white-lored spinetail... Wikipedia →

Sounds

Song0:24

Peru · 2024

© Pritam Baruah · XC922958 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Call0:47

Peru · 2022

© Guilherme de Melo Becher · XC764120 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Canto0:46

Brazil · 2016

© Caio Brito · XC427995 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Manu National Park 🇵🇪 Peru
~20%
2 Tambopata National Reserve 🇵🇪 Peru
~10%
3 Sierra de la Macarena National Park 🇨🇴 Colombia
<5%
4 Amacayacu National Natural Park 🇨🇴 Colombia
<5%
5 Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve 🇪🇨 Ecuador
<5%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Belém 🇧🇷 Brazil
~10%

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Plain-crowned Spinetail in Manu National Park?

Possible

About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Plain-crowned Spinetail sighting in Manu National Park on a given day, based on 711 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 88th most-seen of the 641 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Plain-crowned Spinetail in Manu National Park?

March to May

In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Plain-crowned Spinetail in Manu National Park on a given day, against about 10% in February and September–November, the lowest months.

What time of day is best to see a Plain-crowned Spinetail?

Between 8 and 11 am

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Plain-crowned Spinetail sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.

Is Manu National Park the best place to see a Plain-crowned Spinetail?

Yes

Of the 5 parks where we can rate Plain-crowned Spinetail sightings, Manu National Park has the highest daily chance: about 20%. Next come Tambopata National Reserve (Peru, about 10%) and Sierra de la Macarena National Park (Colombia, under 5%).

Where does the Plain-crowned Spinetail sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Plain-crowned Spinetail is recorded against all the birds logged in Manu National Park (711 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.

← Back to Manu National Park