Cochlearius cochlearius
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The boat-billed heron (Cochlearius cochlearius), colloquially known as the boatbill, is an atypical member of the heron family. It is the only member of the genus Cochlearius and was formerly placed in a monotypic family, the Cochleariidae. It lives in mangrove swamps from Mexico south to Peru and Brazil. It is a nocturnal bird, and breeds semi-colonially in mangrove trees, laying two to four bluish-white eggs in a twig nest.
In 1760, the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the boat-billed heron in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected in French Guiana. He used the French name La Cuillière and the Latin Cochlearius. Brisson placed the species in a new genus Cochlearius (with the same name as that of the species). When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson. One of these was the boat-billed heron. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Cancroma cochlearia, and cited Brisson's work.
Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | João Pessoa | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 2 | San Pedro Sula | 🇭🇳 Honduras | |
| 3 | San José | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 4 | Panama City | 🇵🇦 Panama |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Prague Zoo | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 2 | ZooParc de Beauval | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 3 | Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Parque das Aves | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 5 | Barcelona Zoo | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 6 | Le Pal | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 7 | Paris Zoological Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 8 | Zoo de Doué | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 9 | Abilene Zoological Gardens | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Aquarium du palais de la Porte Dorée | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 11 | Bronx Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 12 | Zoológico de Brasília | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 13 | Brookfield Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 14 | Sedgwick County Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 15 | Milwaukee County Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 16 | Detroit Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 17 | Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 18 | Cape May County Park & Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 19 | Berlin Zoological Garden | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 20 | Caldwell Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 21 | Franklin Park Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 22 | Chiba Zoological Park | 🇯🇵 Japan | |
| 23 | ZooTampa | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 24 | Houston Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 25 | Fresno Chaffee Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 26 | Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 27 | Aquarama Barcelona | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 28 | Roger Williams Park Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 29 | The Abilene Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 30 | Kakegawa Kachoen | 🇯🇵 Japan | |
| 31 | Reid Park Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 32 | Mangal das Garças | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 33 | Zoológico Thomas Belt | 🇳🇮 Nicaragua | |
| 34 | Tracy Aviary | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 35 | Skærup Zoo | 🇩🇰 Denmark | |
| 36 | National Aviary | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 37 | Aquarium Berlin | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 38 | Dallas World Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 39 | National Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 40 | Bird Kingdom | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 41 | Rákosův pavilon | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 42 | Velemlokárium | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 43 | International Animal Rescue – Costa Rica | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 44 | The Zoo In Forest Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Boat-billed Heron sighting in Arenal Volcano National Park on a given day, based on 576 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 230th most-seen of the 503 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Boat-billed Heron in Arenal Volcano National Park on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Boat-billed Heron sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
20th of 37
Of the 37 parks where we can rate Boat-billed Heron sightings, Arenal Volcano National Park ranks 20th at under 5%. The best odds are in Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas (Brazil, about 40%), Palo Verde National Park (Costa Rica, about 20%) and Tikal National Park (Guatemala, about 20%).
Same family: Ardeidae
The closest relatives of the Boat-billed Heron that you can see in Arenal Volcano National Park (family Ardeidae, Herons, Egrets, and Bitterns) are Cattle Egret (about 10%), Great Egret (about 10%) and Fasciated Tiger Heron (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Boat-billed Heron is recorded against all the birds logged in Arenal Volcano National Park (576 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.
