Tanysiptera sylvia
Silhouette: Steven Traver · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
The buff-breasted paradise kingfisher (Tanysiptera sylvia) is a bird in the tree kingfisher subfamily, Halcyoninae. It is native to Australia and New Guinea. It migrates in November from New Guinea to its breeding grounds in the rainforest of North Queensland, Australia. Like all paradise kingfishers, this bird has colourful plumage with a red bill, buff breast and distinctive long tail streamers.
The buff-breasted paradise kingfisher was first described by the English ornithologist and bird artist John Gould in 1850 as Tanysiptera sylvia from specimens supplied by the naturalist John MacGillivray, which had been collected on the Cape York Peninsula in Australia. The genus name is derived from the Greek tanuo meaning 'long' and pteron meaning 'wing', whilst sylvia is from the Latin silva, meaning 'forest'. Until recently the species was known as the white-tailed kingfisher. The name buff-breasted paradise kingfisher was first used in Australia by Graham Pizzey in 1980.
There are two subspecies: T. sylvia sylvia Gould, 1850 – the nominate subspecies, breeds in northern Queensland and winters in New Guinea Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daintree National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia |
More parks will be added in future updates.
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher sighting in Daintree National Park on a given day, based on 223 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 81st most-seen of the 208 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February and November–December
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher in Daintree National Park on a given day, against under 5% in May to October, the lowest months.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Daintree National Park, in our data
Daintree National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same family: Alcedinidae
The closest relatives of the Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher that you can see in Daintree National Park (family Alcedinidae, Kingfishers) are Azure Kingfisher (about 60%), Sacred Kingfisher (about 40%) and Forest Kingfisher (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher is recorded against all the birds logged in Daintree National Park (223 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.
