Oxyruncus cristatus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The sharpbill (Oxyruncus cristatus) is a small passerine bird that is placed in its own family Oxyruncidae. It was formerly placed in the family Tityridae. Its range is from the mountainous areas of tropical South America and southern Central America (Panama and Costa Rica).
It inhabits the canopy of wet forest and feeds on fruit and some invertebrates. It has an orange erectile crest, black-spotted yellowish underparts and scaling on the head and neck. As its name implies, it has a straight, pointed beak, which gives its common name.
Sharpbills are most commonly found in tall dense forests but occasionally venture to the forest edge. Their diet consists of primarily of fruit, but they will also take insects, hanging upside down in from twigs to obtain insect larvae. They will also travel in mixed-species feeding flocks with ovenbirds, tanagers, woodpeckers and cotingas. The breeding system employed by this species is polygamous with closely grouped males displaying in from a lek. The nest of the sharpbill is built by the female and is a small cup built on a slender branch. Chicks are fed by regurgitation.
The genus Oxyruncus was erected by the Dutch zoologist Coenraad... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Darién National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 2 | Serra dos Órgãos National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 3 | Brownsberg Nature Park | 🇸🇷 Suriname | |
| 4 | Itatiaia National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 5 | Tapantí-Macizo de la Muerte National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 6 | Arenal Volcano National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 7 | Braulio Carrillo National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 8 | Iguazú National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 9 | Iguaçu National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 10 | Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Sharpbill sighting in Itatiaia National Park on a given day, based on 39 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 240th most-seen of the 352 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Sharpbill in Itatiaia National Park on a given day, against under 5% in September to July, the lowest months. That is one of Itatiaia National Park's driest months, with about 75 mm of rain against 330 mm in December.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Sharpbill sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
4th of 10
Of the 10 parks where we can rate Sharpbill sightings, Itatiaia National Park ranks 4th at under 5%. The best odds are in Darién National Park (Panama, about 10%), Serra dos Órgãos National Park (Brazil, about 10%) and Brownsberg Nature Park (Suriname, about 10%).
Same family: Cotingidae
The closest relatives of the Sharpbill that you can see in Itatiaia National Park (family Cotingidae, Cotingas) are Chestnut-crowned Becard (about 30%), Greenish Schiffornis (about 20%) and Black-and-gold Cotinga (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Sharpbill is recorded against all the birds logged in Itatiaia National Park (39 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.
