Tityra inquisitor
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
The black-crowned tityra (Tityra inquisitor) is a medium-sized passerine bird. It is found in Mexico, every Central American country except El Salvador, and every mainland South American country except Chile and Uruguay.
The black-crowned tityra has a complicated taxonomic history. It was originally described in 1823 as Lanius inquisitor, mistakenly placing it in the shrike family. In 1851 Johann Jakob Kaup placed it in a new genus, Psaris; he noted that the genus was a synonym for Tityra that Vieillot had erected in 1816. In the early twentieth century some authors placed it in its own genus Erator which was then merged into Tityra in 1929, though some authors in the 1970s urged the species' return to Erator. All of the tityras were for a time included in the tyrant flycatcher family Tyrannidae before they, becards, and a few other species were assigned to their current family Tityridae.
The black-crowned tityra has these six subspecies: Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Valencia | 🇻🇪 Venezuela | |
| 2 | San José | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 3 | Santos | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 4 | Panama City | 🇵🇦 Panama |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Black-crowned Tityra sighting in Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary on a given day, based on 68 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 162nd most-seen of the 277 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January to April
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Black-crowned Tityra in Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary on a given day, against under 5% in May to December, the lowest months. Those are among Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary's driest months, with about 90 mm of rain a month against 300 mm in June.
Between 6 and 9 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Black-crowned Tityra sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 43 parks where we can rate Black-crowned Tityra sightings, Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary ranks 11th at about 10%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Pico Bonito National Park (Honduras, about 10%), Bastimentos Island National Marine Park (Panama, about 10%) and Tikal National Park (Guatemala, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Black-crowned Tityra is recorded against all the birds logged in Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary (68 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.
