Pericrocotus flammeus
Silhouette: PhyloPic
In 3 days ~70% in a week >90%
The orange minivet (Pericrocotus flammeus) is a brightly colored bird in the cuckooshrike family, Campephagidae. It is found all along the Western Ghats and west coast of India and Sri Lanka. It was formerly considered a subspecies of the scarlet minivet which is considered to have a wider distribution in eastern and northern India and South-east Asia. Its natural habitats are temperate forests, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, and subtropical or tropical moist montane forest. The orange minivet is a species resident in southern India and Sri Lanka, that feeds primarily on insects while foraging in mixed-species bird flocks or in small single-species groups.
The genus name comes from Ancient Greek peri - 'very'; krokotus 'saffron-coloured'. The species name flammeus has its roots in Latin, meaning 'fiery' or 'flame-coloured' (flamma - 'flame'). The English name of this species was changed from scarlet minivet to orange minivet after the former was assigned to Pericrocotus speciosus following the split of these two species. This is a complex of species from South and South-east Asia which needs more detailed work.
The orange... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sinharaja Forest Reserve | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 2 | Periyar National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Horton Plains National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 4 | Mudumalai National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Nagarhole National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 6 | Eravikulam National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Bandipur National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 8 | Minneriya National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 9 | Yala National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 10 | Udawalawe National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 11 | Wilpattu National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thrissur | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Kozhikode | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Colombo [Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte] | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka |
Likely
About 40% of wildlife watchers report an Orange Minivet sighting in Horton Plains National Park on a given day, based on 207 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 25th most-seen of the 102 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 70%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
November
In that month about 50% of wildlife watchers report an Orange Minivet in Horton Plains National Park on a given day, against about 20% in March, the lowest month. That is one of Horton Plains National Park's wettest months, with about 350 mm of rain against 80 mm in March.
Between 3 and 6 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Orange Minivet sightings with a recorded time, and about half of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
3rd of 11
Of the 11 parks where we can rate Orange Minivet sightings, Horton Plains National Park ranks 3rd at about 40%. The best odds are in Sinharaja Forest Reserve (Sri Lanka, about 60%) and Periyar National Park (India, about 60%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Orange Minivet is recorded against all the birds logged in Horton Plains National Park (207 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.
