Heliothryx auritus
Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
The black-eared fairy (Heliothryx auritus) is a species of hummingbird in the subfamily Polytminae, the mangoes. It is found in every mainland South American country except Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay. The black-eared fairy 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 with all the other hummingbirds in the genus Trochilus and coined the binomial name Trochilus auritus. Gmelin based his description on "Le grand oiseau-mouche de Cayenne" that had been described by Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760 and "L'oiseau-mouche à oreilles" that had been described by the Comte de Buffon in 1779. The black-eared fairy is now placed with the purple-crowned fairy in the genus Heliothryx that was introduced in 1831 by the German zoologist Friedrich Boie. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek hēlios meaning "sun" with thrix meaning "hair". The specific epithet auritus is Latin meaning "-eared". The type locality is Cayenne, French Guiana.
Three subspecies are recognised: Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brownsberg Nature Park | 🇸🇷 Suriname | |
| 2 | Itatiaia National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 3 | Sierra de la Macarena National Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 4 | Manu National Park | 🇵🇪 Peru | |
| 5 | Yasuní National Park | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 6 | Podocarpus National Park | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 7 | Tambopata National Reserve | 🇵🇪 Peru |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Black-eared Fairy sighting in Yasuní National Park on a given day, based on 49 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 373rd most-seen of the 533 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
November
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Black-eared Fairy in Yasuní National Park on a given day, against under 5% in December to October, the lowest months.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Black-eared Fairy sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
5th of 7
Of the 7 parks where we can rate Black-eared Fairy sightings, Yasuní National Park ranks 5th at under 5%. The best odds are in Brownsberg Nature Park (Suriname, about 40%), Itatiaia National Park (Brazil, about 10%) and Sierra de la Macarena National Park (Colombia, under 5%).
Same family: Trochilidae
The closest relatives of the Black-eared Fairy that you can see in Yasuní National Park (family Trochilidae, Hummingbirds) are Great-billed Hermit (about 10%), Fork-tailed Woodnymph (about 10%) and Glittering-throated Emerald (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Black-eared Fairy is recorded against all the birds logged in Yasuní National Park (49 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.
