Casuarius casuarius
Silhouette: PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~60%
The southern cassowary (Casuarius casuarius), also known as double-wattled cassowary, Australian cassowary, or two-wattled cassowary, is a large, flightless, mostly black bird, found in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and northeastern Australia. It is one of the three living species of cassowary, alongside the dwarf cassowary and the northern cassowary. It is a ratite and therefore related to the emu, ostrich, rhea and kiwi. Southern cassowaries are among the largest birds in the world, only weighing less than ostriches.
The Australian population is listed as Endangered under federal and Queensland state legislation. Presently, most authorities consider the southern cassowary monotypic, but several subspecies have been described. It has proven very difficult to confirm the validity of these due to individual variations, age-related variations, the relatively few available specimens (and the bright skin of the head and neck – the basis upon which several subspecies have been described – fades in specimens), and that locals are known to have traded live cassowaries for hundreds, if not thousands of years, some of which are likely to have escaped/been deliberately introduced... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daintree National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia |
More parks will be added in future updates.
No species of the same family or order lives in Daintree National Park, so these are its closest relatives here: other birds.
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Southern Cassowary sighting in Daintree National Park on a given day, based on 810 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 68th most-seen of the 208 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February and July–August
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Southern Cassowary in Daintree National Park on a given day, against about 10% in March–June and September–January, the lowest months.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Southern Cassowary sightings with a recorded time, and about half of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
Only Daintree National Park, in our data
Daintree National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Southern Cassowary sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Southern Cassowary is recorded against all the birds logged in Daintree National Park (810 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.
