Todirostrum cinereum
Silhouette: Emily Willoughby · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
The common tody-flycatcher (Todirostrum cinereum) is a small passerine bird in the family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers. It is found in Mexico, in every Central American country, and in every mainland South American country except Chile and Uruguay.
The common tody-flycatcher was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1766 in the twelfth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Todus cinereus. Linnaeus based his description on the "Grey and Yellow Fly-catcher" that had been described and illustrated in 1760 by George Edwards from a specimen collected in Suriname. The specific epithet cinereum is from Latin cinereus meaning "ash-grey". The common tody-flycatcher is now the type species of the genus Todirostrum that was introduced by René Lesson in 1831.
Eight subspecies are recognized: The Clements taxonomy partially separates T. c. sclateri as "common tody-flycatcher... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | João Pessoa | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 2 | Salvador | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 3 | Recife | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 4 | Fortaleza | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 5 | Goiânia | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 6 | Campo Grande | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 7 | Cali | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 8 | Santos | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 9 | Caracas | 🇻🇪 Venezuela | |
| 10 | Panama City | 🇵🇦 Panama |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Common Tody-Flycatcher sighting in Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve on a given day, based on 175 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 131st most-seen of the 288 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June and October
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Common Tody-Flycatcher in Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve on a given day, against under 5% in September and December–January, the lowest months. Those are among Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve's wettest months, with about 200 mm of rain a month against 30 mm in March.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Common Tody-Flycatcher sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
38th of 62
Of the 62 parks where we can rate Common Tody-Flycatcher sightings, Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve ranks 38th at about 10%. The best odds are in Tenorio Volcano National Park (Costa Rica, about 50%), Farallones de Cali National Natural Park (Colombia, about 50%) and Piedras Blancas National Park (Costa Rica, about 40%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Tyrannidae
The closest relatives of the Common Tody-Flycatcher that you can see in Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve (family Tyrannidae, Tyrant Flycatchers) are Social Flycatcher (about 70%), Great Kiskadee (about 50%) and Couch's Kingbird (about 40%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Common Tody-Flycatcher is recorded against all the birds logged in Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve (175 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.
