Camptostoma imberbe
Silhouette: Emily Willoughby · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
The northern beardless tyrannulet (Camptostoma imberbe) is a small passerine bird in the tyrant flycatcher family. It breeds from southeasternmost Arizona and Texas of the United States through Mexico and Central America to northwestern Costa Rica.
This species is found in light forests, cultivation and gardens with trees. The domed nest is made of plant fibre or leaves with a side entrance. The nest is placed by a tree fork. The typical clutch is two white eggs, which are marked with rufous and lilac mostly at the larger end. Incubation by the female is 14–15 days to hatching, with another 17 days to fledging.
The northern beardless tyrannulet is 10.2 cm (4.0 in) long, and weighs 7.5 g (0.26 oz). The head is dark brown with an erectile crest and pale supercilium. The upperparts are grey-green becoming paler on the rump. The wings are brown with yellow feather-edging and two whitish wing bars. The tail is brown, the throat grey, the breast yellowish, and the abdomen yellow. The bill is pinkish.
Sexes are similar, and this species always appears not as bright, especially with regard to the wing bars, as the closely related southern beardless tyrannulet, C. obsoletum, with which it was once considered conspecific. However, the two forms overlap without interbreeding in Costa Rica.
Northern beardless tyrannulets are active birds, feeding in a vireo or warbler-like fashion on insects, spiders and berries. The call is a loud whistled Fleeeeeerrr, sometimes broken up as a fleeer-it, or a flee-flee-flee-flee. In courtship, or when alarmed, the crests are raised, the tail flicked, and an excited call is made. Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Puebla | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 2 | Mexico City | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 3 | León | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 4 | Guadalajara | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 5 | San Pedro Sula | 🇭🇳 Honduras | |
| 6 | San José | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 7 | Monterrey | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 8 | San Salvador | 🇸🇻 El Salvador | |
| 9 | Managua | 🇳🇮 Nicaragua | |
| 10 | Guatemala City | 🇬🇹 Guatemala |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet sighting in Ría Lagartos Biosphere Reserve on a given day, based on 12 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 170th most-seen of the 216 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.
June and September
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet in Ría Lagartos Biosphere Reserve on a given day, against under 5% in July–August and October–May, the lowest months. Those are among Ría Lagartos Biosphere Reserve's wettest months, with about 140 mm of rain a month against 20 mm in February.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
19th of 23
Of the 23 parks where we can rate Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet sightings, Ría Lagartos Biosphere Reserve ranks 19th at under 5%. The best odds are in El Triunfo (Mexico, about 20%), Calakmul Biosphere Reserve (Mexico, about 20%) and Cañón del Sumidero National Park (Mexico, about 20%).
Same family: Tyrannidae
The closest relatives of the Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet that you can see in Ría Lagartos Biosphere Reserve (family Tyrannidae, Tyrant Flycatchers) are Tropical Kingbird (about 40%), Great Kiskadee (about 20%) and Social Flycatcher (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet is recorded against all the birds logged in Ría Lagartos Biosphere Reserve (12 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.
