Sporophila minuta
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The ruddy-breasted seedeater (Sporophila minuta) is a species of bird in the tanager family Thraupidae. It is found in Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela.
Its natural habitats are dry savanna, subtropical or tropical seasonally wet or flooded lowland grassland, and heavily degraded former forest. The ruddy-breasted seedeater was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Loxia minuta. The specific epithet is from Latin minutus meaning "little" or "small". The type locality is Suriname. The ruddy-breasted seedeater is now placed in the genus Sporophila that was introduced by the German ornithologist Jean Cabanis in 1844.
Three subspecies are recognised: Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Piedras Blancas National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 2 | Soberanía National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 3 | San Lorenzo Protected Forest | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 4 | Sierra de la Macarena National Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 5 | Henri Pittier National Park | 🇻🇪 Venezuela | |
| 6 | Corcovado National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 7 | Chagres National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 8 | Farallones de Cali National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 9 | Tayrona National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 10 | La Amistad International Park (Panama) | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 11 | Manuel Antonio National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 12 | Parque Natural Metropolitano | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 13 | Carara National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Medellín | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 2 | Caracas | 🇻🇪 Venezuela | |
| 3 | Panama City | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 4 | Valencia | 🇻🇪 Venezuela | |
| 5 | Cali | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 6 | Managua | 🇳🇮 Nicaragua | |
| 7 | San Salvador | 🇸🇻 El Salvador |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Ruddy-breasted Seedeater sighting in Soberanía National Park on a given day, based on 499 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 228th most-seen of the 449 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Ruddy-breasted Seedeater in Soberanía National Park on a given day, against under 5% in October to February, the lowest months.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Ruddy-breasted Seedeater 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 13
Of the 13 parks where we can rate Ruddy-breasted Seedeater sightings, Soberanía National Park ranks 2nd at under 5%. The best odds are in Piedras Blancas National Park (Costa Rica, about 10%).
Same genus: Sporophila
The closest relatives of the Ruddy-breasted Seedeater that you can see in Soberanía National Park (genus Sporophila, Typical Seedeaters and Seed-Finches) are Variable Seedeater (about 40%), Yellow-bellied Seedeater (about 10%) and Thick-billed Seed-Finch (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Ruddy-breasted Seedeater is recorded against all the birds logged in Soberanía National Park (499 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.
