Smilisca manisorum
Silhouette: Dmitry Bogdanov (vectorized by T. Michael Keesey) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
Smilisca manisorum, or the masked tree frog, is a frog in the family Hylidae, endemic to Costa Rica, Panama, Honduras and Nicaragua. It lives in coastal forests. Scientists have seen it as high as 540 meters above sea level.
The species was originally synonymized with the common Mexican tree frog (Smilisca baudinii), but was resurrected as a species in 2017. New Granada cross-banded tree frog Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Braulio Carrillo National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 2 | Tenorio Volcano National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 3 | Tortuguero National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 4 | Arenal Volcano National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report an Eastern Masked Tree Frog sighting in Arenal Volcano National Park on a given day, based on 23 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 23rd most-seen of the 39 amphibians 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.
May and September
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report an Eastern Masked Tree Frog in Arenal Volcano National Park on a given day, against under 5% in February and November, the lowest months.
Between 7 and 10 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Eastern Masked Tree Frog sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is mostly seen at night.
4th of 4
Of the 4 parks where we can rate Eastern Masked Tree Frog sightings, Arenal Volcano National Park ranks 4th at about 10%. The best odds are in Braulio Carrillo National Park (Costa Rica, about 40%), Tenorio Volcano National Park (Costa Rica, about 30%) and Tortuguero National Park (Costa Rica, about 20%).
Same genus: Smilisca
The closest relatives of the Eastern Masked Tree Frog that you can see in Arenal Volcano National Park (genus Smilisca, Cross-banded Tree Frogs) are Masked Tree Frog (about 50%), Drab Tree Frog (about 10%) and Mexican Smilisca (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Eastern Masked Tree Frog is recorded against all the amphibians logged in Arenal Volcano National Park (23 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.
