Rufescent Tiger Heron

Rufescent Tiger Heron

Tigrisoma lineatum

Silhouette: Mannheim Reinhard Jahn (photograph) · PhyloPic

LCLeast ConcernNTVUENCR
Daily sighting probability ~40% · Likely
at Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve

In 3 days ~80% in a week >90%

311 Verified sightings at Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve From 2019 to 2026
10,008 In all 23 parks
October Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Rufescent Tiger Heron

The rufescent tiger heron (Tigrisoma lineatum) is a species of heron, birds in the family Ardeidae. It is found in wetlands from Central America through much of South America. The rufescent tiger heron was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1780 in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux from a specimen collected in Cayenne, French Guiana. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text. Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial name Ardea lineata in his catalogue of the Planches Enluminées. The rufescent tiger heron is now placed in the genus Tigrisoma that was erected by the English naturalist William Swainson in 1827. The genus name Tigrisoma combines the Ancient Greek tigris, meaning "tiger" and somā, meaning "body"; the specific epithet lineatum is from the Latin lineatus meaning "marked with lines".

Two subspecies are recognised: Wikipedia →

Sounds

Alarm call0:04

Brazil · 2026

© JAYRSON ARAUJO DE OLIVEIRA · XC1082122 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Song0:20

Ecuador · 2025

© Marc Anderson · XC986562 · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Recording0:24

Paraguay · 2023

© Guillermo Menéndez (gmmv80) · XC819373 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas 🇧🇷 Brazil
~80%
2 Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve 🇪🇨 Ecuador
~40%
3 Iberá National Park 🇦🇷 Argentina
~40%
4 Soberanía National Park 🇵🇦 Panama
~40%
5 El Impenetrable National Park 🇦🇷 Argentina
~30%
6 Yasuní National Park 🇪🇨 Ecuador
~20%
7 Anavilhanas National Park 🇧🇷 Brazil
~20%
8 San Lorenzo Protected Forest 🇵🇦 Panama
~10%
9 Manu National Park 🇵🇪 Peru
~10%
10 Amacayacu National Natural Park 🇨🇴 Colombia
~10%
11 Tambopata National Reserve 🇵🇪 Peru
~10%
12 Iguaçu National Park 🇧🇷 Brazil
~10%
13 Iguazú National Park 🇦🇷 Argentina
~10%
14 El Palmar National Park 🇦🇷 Argentina
<5%
15 Darién National Park 🇵🇦 Panama
<5%
16 Emas National Park 🇧🇷 Brazil
<5%
17 Tortuguero National Park 🇨🇷 Costa Rica
<5%
18 Sierra de la Macarena National Park 🇨🇴 Colombia
<5%
19 Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge 🇨🇷 Costa Rica
<5%
20 Parque Natural Metropolitano 🇵🇦 Panama
<5%
21 Bastimentos Island National Marine Park 🇵🇦 Panama
<5%
22 Cahuita National Park 🇨🇷 Costa Rica
<5%
23 La Amistad International Park (Panama) 🇵🇦 Panama
<5%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Buenos Aires 🇦🇷 Argentina
~30%
2 Fortaleza 🇧🇷 Brazil
~20%
3 Santa Cruz de la Sierra 🇧🇴 Bolivia
~10%
4 Maceió 🇧🇷 Brazil
~10%
5 Caracas 🇻🇪 Venezuela
~10%
6 Asuncion 🇵🇾 Paraguay
~10%
7 Recife 🇧🇷 Brazil
<5%
8 Belém 🇧🇷 Brazil
<5%
9 Campo Grande 🇧🇷 Brazil
<5%
10 Barranquilla 🇨🇴 Colombia
<5%

Zoos & Centres Where Found

# Zoo / Centre Country
1 Parque das Aves 🇧🇷 Brazil In captivity
2 Parque Zoobotânico Getúlio Vargas 🇧🇷 Brazil In captivity
3 Complejo Turistico de Quistococha 🇵🇪 Peru In captivity
4 Tropical Manaus Zoo 🇧🇷 Brazil In captivity
5 Aqualife 🇦🇷 Argentina In captivity

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Rufescent Tiger Heron in Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve?

Likely

About 40% of wildlife watchers report a Rufescent Tiger Heron sighting in Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve on a given day, based on 311 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 23rd most-seen of the 328 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 80%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Rufescent Tiger Heron in Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve?

October

In that month about 60% of wildlife watchers report a Rufescent Tiger Heron in Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve on a given day, against about 20% in November, the lowest month.

What time of day is best to see a Rufescent Tiger Heron?

Between 8 and 11 am

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Rufescent Tiger 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.

Is Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve the best place to see a Rufescent Tiger Heron?

2nd of 23

Of the 23 parks where we can rate Rufescent Tiger Heron sightings, Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve ranks 2nd at about 40%. The best odds are in Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas (Brazil, about 80%). All parks ranked.

Which relatives of the Rufescent Tiger Heron live in Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve?

Same family: Ardeidae

The closest relatives of the Rufescent Tiger Heron that you can see in Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve (family Ardeidae, Herons, Egrets, and Bitterns) are Cocoi Heron (about 50%), Striated Heron (about 50%) and Great Egret (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.

Where does the Rufescent Tiger Heron sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Rufescent Tiger Heron is recorded against all the birds logged in Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve (311 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.

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