Cotinga cayana
Silhouette: Edwin Price · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
The spangled cotinga (Cotinga cayana) is a species of bird in the family Cotingidae, the cotingas. It is found in the canopy of the Amazon rainforest in South America. Because of their bright, beautiful colours, cotingas have been hunted by native and colonial peoples for their feathers, as well as for food. The feathers of some species are used in making fishing flies and lures. The beauty of these birds draws birdwatchers from around the world and so may add to the local tourist economy.
In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the spangled cotinga in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected in Cayenne in French Guiana. He used the French name Le cotinga de Cayenne and the Latin Cotinga Cayanensis. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson. One of these was the spangled cotinga. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial... Wikipedia →
Song0:06
Peru · 2000
© Jonas Nilsson · XC275907 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yasuní National Park | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 2 | Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 3 | Anavilhanas National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 4 | Brownsberg Nature Park | 🇸🇷 Suriname | |
| 5 | Manu National Park | 🇵🇪 Peru | |
| 6 | Tambopata National Reserve | 🇵🇪 Peru |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Diego Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Denver Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Zürich Zoo | 🇨🇭 Switzerland | |
| 4 | Barcelona Zoo | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 5 | San Diego Zoo Safari Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Sedgwick County Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Woodland Park Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Bird Paradise | 🇸🇬 Singapore | |
| 9 | Aquarama Barcelona | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 10 | Rainforest Wild Asia | 🇸🇬 Singapore | |
| 11 | Ralph Perkins II Wildlife Center and Woods Garden | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 12 | Seattle Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 13 | OdySea Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 14 | Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 15 | Montreal Biodome | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 16 | Seattle Marine Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Spangled Cotinga sighting in Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve on a given day, based on 68 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 106th most-seen of the 328 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May to March
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Spangled Cotinga in Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve on a given day, against under 5% in April, the lowest month.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Spangled Cotinga 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 6 parks where we can rate Spangled Cotinga sightings, Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve ranks 2nd at about 10%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Yasuní National Park (Ecuador, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Spangled Cotinga is recorded against all the birds logged in Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve (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.
