Elaenia cristata
Silhouette: Edwin Price · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~60% in a week ~90%
The plain-crested elaenia (Elaenia cristata) is a species of bird in subfamily Elaeniinae of family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.
The plain-crested elaenia and the rufous-crowned elaenia (E. ruficeps) are sister species. The plain-crested elaenia is 12.5 to 15 cm (4.9 to 5.9 in) long and weighs about 18 g (0.63 oz). It is a small elaenia with a conspicuous crest. The two subspecies and the sexes have essentially the same plumage. Adults have a dull olive-brown head with lighter brown cheeks and a thin whitish eyering. Their upperparts are dull olive-brown. Their wings are mostly dusky; the flight feathers have whitish edges and the tips of the coverts are whitish. The latter show as two bars on the closed wing. Their tail is dusky. Their throat is grayish white, their breast grayish olive, and their belly and undertail coverts pale yellow. Both sexes of both subspecies have a dark brown iris, a black... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chapada Diamantina National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 2 | Serra da Canastra National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 3 | Emas National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 4 | Chapada dos Guimarães National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 5 | Amboró National Park | 🇧🇴 Bolivia |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Belo Horizonte | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Plain-crested Elaenia sighting in Serra da Canastra National Park on a given day, based on 168 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 69th most-seen of the 294 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.
April
In that month about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Plain-crested Elaenia in Serra da Canastra National Park on a given day, against about 20% in January–March, May, July, September and November, the lowest months. That is one of Serra da Canastra National Park's driest months, with about 70 mm of rain against 280 mm in January.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Plain-crested Elaenia sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
2nd of 5
Of the 5 parks where we can rate Plain-crested Elaenia sightings, Serra da Canastra National Park ranks 2nd at about 30%. The best odds are in Chapada Diamantina National Park (Brazil, about 50%). All parks ranked.
Same genus: Elaenia
The closest relatives of the Plain-crested Elaenia that you can see in Serra da Canastra National Park (genus Elaenia, Typical Elaenias) are Yellow-bellied Elaenia (about 40%), Small-headed Elaenia (about 20%) and Lesser Elaenia (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Plain-crested Elaenia is recorded against all the birds logged in Serra da Canastra National Park (168 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.
