Eucometis penicillata
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~60% in a week ~90%
The grey-headed tanager (Eucometis penicillata) is a species of bird in the family Thraupidae, the tanagers and allies. It is found in Mexico, every Central American country except El Salvador, and every mainland South American country except Argentina, Chile, French Guiana, and Uruguay.
The grey-headed tanager was formally described in 1825 by the German naturalist Johann Baptist von Spix under the binomial name Tanagra penicillata. Spix did not specify a type locality but this was later designated as Fonte Boa in the Brazilian state of Amazonas. The grey-headed tanager is now the only species in the genus Eucometis that was introduced by the English zoologist Philip Sclater in 1856. The genus name is derived from Ancient Greek eukomēs meaning "with lovely hair". The specific epithet penicillata is from the Latin diminutive of peniculus meaning "brush".
Within the Thraupidae the grey-headed tanager is a member of the subfamily Tachyphoninae and is the sister species to the black-goggled tanager (Trichothraupis melanops). The grey-headed tanager has these seven subspecies Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Campo Grande | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 2 | Goiânia | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 3 | Belo Horizonte | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 4 | Managua | 🇳🇮 Nicaragua | |
| 5 | Caracas | 🇻🇪 Venezuela | |
| 6 | San José | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Schönbrunn Zoo | 🇦🇹 Austria |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Gray-headed Tanager sighting in Rincón de la Vieja National Park on a given day, based on 337 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 36th most-seen of the 341 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 60%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May and October
In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Gray-headed Tanager in Rincón de la Vieja National Park on a given day, against about 20% in June, August–September and November–February, the lowest months. Those are among Rincón de la Vieja National Park's wettest months, with about 300 mm of rain a month against 45 mm in February.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Gray-headed Tanager 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 33 parks where we can rate Gray-headed Tanager sightings, Rincón de la Vieja National Park ranks 2nd at about 30%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Soberanía National Park (Panama, about 30%).
Same family: Thraupidae
The closest relatives of the Gray-headed Tanager that you can see in Rincón de la Vieja National Park (family Thraupidae, Tanagers and Allies) are Blue-gray Tanager (about 20%), Red-legged Honeycreeper (about 20%) and Scarlet-rumped Tanager (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Gray-headed Tanager is recorded against all the birds logged in Rincón de la Vieja National Park (337 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.
