Philemon yorki
Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~70% in a week ~90%
The helmeted friarbird (Philemon buceroides) is part of the Meliphagidae family. The helmeted friarbird, along with all their subspecies, is commonly referred to as "leatherhead" by the birding community. The helmeted friarbird was formally described in 1838 by the English zoologist William Swainson under the binomial name Philedon buceroides. The specific epithet combines the genus Buceros that was introduced in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus for the hornbills with the Ancient Greek -οιδης/-oidēs meaning "resembling". Swainson believed that his specimen had come from Australia (New Holland) but this was an error and in 1916 the Austrian ornithologist Carl Eduard Hellmayr designated the island of Timor as the type locality. The helmeted friarbird is now one of 17 friarbirds placed in the genus Philemon that was introduced in 1816 by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot.
Ten subspecies are recognised: Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daintree National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia |
More parks will be added in future updates.
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Hornbill Friarbird sighting in Daintree National Park on a given day, based on 57 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 34th most-seen of the 208 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 70%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January and August–October
In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Hornbill Friarbird in Daintree National Park on a given day, against under 5% in February and March, the lowest months.
Between 3 and 6 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Hornbill Friarbird sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 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 Hornbill Friarbird sightings: about 30% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Hornbill Friarbird is recorded against all the birds logged in Daintree National Park (57 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.
