Chamaepetes unicolor
Silhouette: Natalia Ladino · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
The black guan (Chamaepetes unicolor) is a species of bird in the chachalaca, guan, and curassow family Cracidae. It is found in Costa Rica and Panama. The black guan shares the genus Chamaepetes with the sickle-winged guan (C. goudotii) of western South America and may form a superspecies with it.
The black guan is 62 to 69 cm (2.03 to 2.26 ft) long and weighs about 1,135 g (2.502 lb). Adults have all black plumage with contrasting bright blue facial skin around a red eye. Their legs and feet are pinkish-red. Juveniles are similar but less glossy and their underparts browner and their facial skin is blackish or dark brown.
The black guan is found from the Cordillera de Guanacaste in northern Costa Rica to western Coclé Province in Panama. It inhabits cloudforest in the Talamancan montane forest ecozone. It prefers steep terrain in the temperate, subtropical, and tropical zones, usually between about 1,000 and 2,250 m (3,280 and 7,380 ft) of elevation, but in some areas as low as 800 m (2,600 ft) and in others as high as 3,000 m (9,800 ft).
The black guan is thought to be mainly... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 2 | Los Quetzales National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 3 | Poás Volcano National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 4 | Tapantí-Macizo de la Muerte National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 5 | Chirripó National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 6 | Volcán Barú National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 7 | Braulio Carrillo National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 8 | La Amistad International Park (Panama) | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 9 | Irazú Volcano National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 10 | Arenal Volcano National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 11 | Rincón de la Vieja National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 12 | Tenorio Volcano National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | La Paz Waterfall Gardens | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 2 | El Nispero Zoo | 🇵🇦 Panama |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Black Guan sighting in Arenal Volcano National Park on a given day, based on 194 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 331st most-seen of the 503 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.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Black Guan in Arenal Volcano National Park on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Black Guan sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
10th of 12
Of the 12 parks where we can rate Black Guan sightings, Arenal Volcano National Park ranks 10th at under 5%. The best odds are in Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve (Costa Rica, about 30%), Los Quetzales National Park (Costa Rica, about 30%) and Poás Volcano National Park (Costa Rica, about 30%).
Same family: Cracidae
The closest relatives of the Black Guan that you can see in Arenal Volcano National Park (family Cracidae, Guans, Chachalacas, and Curassows) are Crested Guan (about 70%), Great Curassow (about 50%) and Gray-headed Chachalaca (about 40%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Black Guan is recorded against all the birds logged in Arenal Volcano National Park (194 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.
