Coccyzus minor
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The mangrove cuckoo (Coccyzus minor) is a species of cuckoo that is native to the Neotropics. The mangrove cuckoo 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 cuckoos in the genus Cuculus and coined the binomial name Cuculus minor. Gmelin based his description on "Le petit vieillard" or "Coucou des palétuviers" from Cayenne that had been described and illustrated in 1779 by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon. The mangrove cuckoo is now placed with 12 other species in the genus Coccyzus that was introduced in 1816 by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot. The genus name is from the Ancient Greek kokkuzō meaning "to cry cuckoo". The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.
Adults have a long tail, brown above and black-and-white below, and a black curved bill with yellow on the lower mandible. The head and upper parts are brown. There is a yellow ring around the eye. This bird is best distinguished by its black facial mask and buffy underparts. Although the scientific name... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Santo Domingo | 🇩🇴 Dominican Republic | |
| 2 | Mexico City | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 3 | Panama City | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 4 | San José | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 5 | Miami | 🇺🇸 United States |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Mangrove Cuckoo sighting in Caroni Swamp on a given day, based on 23 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 117th most-seen of the 169 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July and December
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Mangrove Cuckoo in Caroni Swamp on a given day, against under 5% in January–June and August–November, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Mangrove Cuckoo sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
8th of 23
Of the 23 parks where we can rate Mangrove Cuckoo sightings, Caroni Swamp ranks 8th at under 5%. The best odds are in Los Haitises National Park (Dominican Republic, about 20%), Palo Verde National Park (Costa Rica, about 20%) and Jaragua National Park (Dominican Republic, about 10%).
Same family: Cuculidae
The closest relatives of the Mangrove Cuckoo that you can see in Caroni Swamp (family Cuculidae, Cuckoos) are Smooth-billed Ani (about 40%), Greater Ani (about 20%) and Little Cuckoo (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Mangrove Cuckoo is recorded against all the birds logged in Caroni Swamp (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.
