Lessonia rufa
Silhouette: Emily Willoughby · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
The austral negrito or Patagonian negrito (Lessonia rufa) is a species of bird in the family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay and has occurred as a vagrant in Peru and on the Falkland Islands.
The austral negrito was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the larks in the genus Alauda and coined the binomial name Alauda rufa. The specific epithet is from Latin rufus meaning "red", "ruddy" or "rufous". Gmelin based his description on "L'alouette noire à dos fauve" from Buenos Aires that had been described in 1778 by the French polymath, the Comte de Buffon and illustrated with a hand-colored engraving by François-Nicolas Martinet.
The austral negrito now shares genus Lessonia with the Andean negrito (L. oreas); that genus was erected in 1832 by William Swainson. The two were long considered conspecific. Late in the twentieth century they were separated based primarily on plumage differences, and a 2014 publication added differences in feather structure and... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Torres del Paine National Park | 🇨🇱 Chile | |
| 2 | Nahuel Huapi National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 3 | Tierra del Fuego National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 4 | Península Valdés | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 5 | Vicente Pérez Rosales National Park | 🇨🇱 Chile | |
| 6 | Iberá National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Santiago | 🇨🇱 Chile | |
| 2 | Buenos Aires | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 3 | Montevideo | 🇺🇾 Uruguay |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report an Austral Negrito sighting in Tierra del Fuego National Park on a given day, based on 95 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 45th most-seen of the 78 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July and October–January
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report an Austral Negrito in Tierra del Fuego National Park on a given day, against under 5% in February–May and August–September, the lowest months. June has too few records to rate.
Between 3 and 6 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Austral Negrito sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
3rd of 6
Of the 6 parks where we can rate Austral Negrito sightings, Tierra del Fuego National Park ranks 3rd at about 10%. The best odds are in Torres del Paine National Park (Chile, about 50%) and Nahuel Huapi National Park (Argentina, about 30%).
Same family: Tyrannidae
The closest relatives of the Austral Negrito that you can see in Tierra del Fuego National Park (family Tyrannidae, Tyrant Flycatchers) are White-crested Elaenia (about 70%), Fire-eyed Diucon (about 50%) and Tufted Tit-Tyrant (about 50%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Austral Negrito is recorded against all the birds logged in Tierra del Fuego National Park (95 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.
