---
title: "Sungrebe"
description: "Heliornis fulica — Birds. The sungrebe or American finfoot (Heliornis fulica) is a small aquatic gruiform found in the tropical and subtropical Americas from northeastern Mexico to central Ecuador and southern Brazil."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/sungrebe
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Sungrebe

> Heliornis fulica — Birds. The sungrebe or American finfoot (Heliornis fulica) is a small aquatic gruiform found in the tropical and subtropical Americas from northeastern Mexico to central Ecuador and southern Brazil.

- Scientific name: *Heliornis fulica*
- Category: `birds` (Birds)
- Habitats: `freshwater` (Lakes & rivers)
- iNaturalist observations: 1263
- Wikidata: [Q1086846](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1086846)
- iNaturalist taxon: [68](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/68)

## Names

- en: Sungrebe
- de: Zwergbinsenralle
- es: Pájaro cantil
- fr: Grébifoulque d'Amérique
- nl: Kleine fuutkoet
- pt: Picaparra
- pl: Perkołyska amerykańska

## Countries with the most observations

CR (337), BR (236), MX (227), PE (107), EC (95), BZ (39), BO (29), GT (28), CO (20), NI (20), GF (19), GY (10)

## Summary

The sungrebe or American finfoot (Heliornis fulica) is a small aquatic gruiform found in the tropical and subtropical Americas from northeastern Mexico to central Ecuador and southern Brazil. 
The sungrebe is now the only species placed in the genus Heliornis that was erected by the French naturalist Pierre Bonnaterre in 1791 with the sungrebe as the type species. The name of the genus combines the Ancient Greek hēlios meaning "sun" and ornis  meaning "bird". The specific epithet fulica is Latin for "coot". 
These waterfowl have broad lobes on their feet, convergent to that of grebes or coots, that they use to propel…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sungrebe

## Photo

![Sungrebe](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/sungrebe/medium.jpg)

Photo: filipeprates · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/308502202

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/sungrebe?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).