Polioptila plumbea
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10%
The tropical gnatcatcher (Polioptila plumbea) is a small active insectivorous songbird, which is a resident species throughout a large part of northern South America. It was formerly considered as conspecific with the white-browed gnatcatcher and the Marañón gnatcatcher.
The tropical gnatcatcher was formally described in 1788 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it in the genus Todus, coined the binomial name Todus plumbeus and specified the type locality as Suriname in South America. The specific epithet plumbeus is Latin meaning "plumbeous" or "lead-coloured". Gmelin based his account on the "Plumbeous tody" that had been described in 1782 by the English ornithologist John Latham in his book A General Synopsis of Birds. Latham had examined a specimen in the collection of the British Museum. The tropical gnatcatcher is now one of 17 gnatcatchers placed in the genus Polioptila that was introduced in 1855 by the English zoologist Philip Sclater.
The tropical gnatcatcher was formerly considered to conspecific with the white-browed gnatcatcher (Polioptila bilineata) and the Marañón... Wikipedia →
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Tropical Gnatcatcher sighting in Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve on a given day, based on 46 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 197th most-seen of the 288 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June and October
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Tropical Gnatcatcher in Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve on a given day, against under 5% in July–September and November–May, 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 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Tropical Gnatcatcher sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
36th of 41
Of the 41 parks where we can rate Tropical Gnatcatcher sightings, Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve ranks 36th at under 5%. The best odds are in Coiba National Park (Panama, about 50%), Machalilla National Park (Ecuador, about 50%) and Bastimentos Island National Marine Park (Panama, about 30%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Tropical Gnatcatcher is recorded against all the birds logged in Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve (46 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.
