Onychorhynchus coronatus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
The tropical royal flycatcher (Onychorhynchus coronatus) is a passerine bird that most taxonomic systems place in family Onychorhynchidae. It is found in Mexico, south through most of Central America, and in every mainland South American country except Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
The tropical royal flycatcher was formally described in 1776 by the German zoologist Philipp Statius Müller under the binomial name Muscicapa coronata. Müller based his account on a hand-colored illustration of the "Tyran hupé de Cayenne" that had been engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet. The specific epithet is from Latin coronatus meaning "crowned". The tropical royal flycatcher is now placed together with Atlantic royal flycatcher in the genus Onychorhynchus that was introduced in 1810 by the German naturalist Gotthelf Fischer von Waldheim.
After a complicated history (which see here), the International Ornithological Committee (IOC) and the Clements taxonomy placed the tropical royal flycatcher and the Atlantic royal flycatcher (O. swainsoni) in family Onychorhynchidae.
However, the tropical royal flycatcher's taxonomy remains unsettled. The North and South American Classification... Wikipedia →
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Royal Flycatcher sighting in Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary on a given day, based on 77 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 156th 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.
July and September
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Royal Flycatcher in Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary on a given day, against under 5% in March, August and November–January, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Royal Flycatcher 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 26
Of the 26 parks where we can rate Royal Flycatcher sightings, Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary ranks 8th at about 10%. The best odds are in Tikal National Park (Guatemala, about 30%), Santa Rosa National Park (Costa Rica, about 20%) and Carara National Park (Costa Rica, about 20%).
Same family: Tyrannidae
The closest relatives of the Royal Flycatcher that you can see in Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary (family Tyrannidae, Tyrant Flycatchers) are Great Kiskadee (about 60%), Social Flycatcher (about 60%) and Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (about 40%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Royal Flycatcher is recorded against all the birds logged in Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary (77 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.
