Eucometis penicillata
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
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 20% of wildlife watchers report a Gray-headed Tanager sighting in Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve on a given day, based on 345 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 90th most-seen of the 288 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.
April
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Gray-headed Tanager in Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve on a given day, against under 5% in September, the lowest month. That is one of Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve's driest months, with about 40 mm of rain against 230 mm in June.
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.
9th of 33
Of the 33 parks where we can rate Gray-headed Tanager sightings, Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve ranks 9th at about 20%. The best odds are in Soberanía National Park (Panama, about 30%), Rincón de la Vieja National Park (Costa Rica, about 30%) and Carara National Park (Costa Rica, about 20%).
Same family: Thraupidae
The closest relatives of the Gray-headed Tanager that you can see in Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve (family Thraupidae, Tanagers and Allies) are Cinnamon-bellied Saltator (about 40%), Black-headed Saltator (about 40%) and Blue-gray Tanager (about 30%), 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 Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve (345 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.
