Tigrisoma lineatum
Silhouette: Mannheim Reinhard Jahn (photograph) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The rufescent tiger heron (Tigrisoma lineatum) is a species of heron, birds in the family Ardeidae. It is found in wetlands from Central America through much of South America. The rufescent tiger heron was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1780 in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux from a specimen collected in Cayenne, French Guiana. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text. Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial name Ardea lineata in his catalogue of the Planches Enluminées. The rufescent tiger heron is now placed in the genus Tigrisoma that was erected by the English naturalist William Swainson in 1827. The genus name Tigrisoma combines the Ancient Greek tigris, meaning "tiger" and somā, meaning "body"; the specific epithet lineatum is from the Latin lineatus meaning "marked with lines".
Two subspecies are recognised: Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 2 | Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 3 | Iberá National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 4 | Soberanía National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 5 | El Impenetrable National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 6 | Yasuní National Park | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 7 | Anavilhanas National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 8 | San Lorenzo Protected Forest | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 9 | Manu National Park | 🇵🇪 Peru | |
| 10 | Amacayacu National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 11 | Tambopata National Reserve | 🇵🇪 Peru | |
| 12 | Iguaçu National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 13 | Iguazú National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 14 | El Palmar National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 15 | Darién National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 16 | Emas National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 17 | Tortuguero National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 18 | Sierra de la Macarena National Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 19 | Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 20 | Parque Natural Metropolitano | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 21 | Bastimentos Island National Marine Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 22 | Cahuita National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 23 | La Amistad International Park (Panama) | 🇵🇦 Panama |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Buenos Aires | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 2 | Fortaleza | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 3 | Santa Cruz de la Sierra | 🇧🇴 Bolivia | |
| 4 | Maceió | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 5 | Caracas | 🇻🇪 Venezuela | |
| 6 | Asuncion | 🇵🇾 Paraguay | |
| 7 | Recife | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 8 | Belém | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 9 | Campo Grande | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 10 | Barranquilla | 🇨🇴 Colombia |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Parque das Aves | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 2 | Parque Zoobotânico Getúlio Vargas | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 3 | Complejo Turistico de Quistococha | 🇵🇪 Peru | |
| 4 | Tropical Manaus Zoo | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 5 | Aqualife | 🇦🇷 Argentina |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Rufescent Tiger Heron sighting in Iguazú National Park on a given day, based on 285 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 173rd most-seen of the 343 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January–March, May–June and August
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Rufescent Tiger Heron in Iguazú National Park on a given day, against under 5% in April, July and September–December, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Rufescent Tiger Heron sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
13th of 23
Of the 23 parks where we can rate Rufescent Tiger Heron sightings, Iguazú National Park ranks 13th at about 10%. The best odds are in Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas (Brazil, about 80%), Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve (Ecuador, about 40%) and Iberá National Park (Argentina, about 40%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Ardeidae
The closest relatives of the Rufescent Tiger Heron that you can see in Iguazú National Park (family Ardeidae, Herons, Egrets, and Bitterns) are Great Egret (about 30%) and Black-crowned Night Heron (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Rufescent Tiger Heron is recorded against all the birds logged in Iguazú National Park (285 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.
