Centropus monachus
Silhouette: Nicolas Huet le Jeune and Jean-Gabriel Prêtre (vectorized by T. Michael Keesey) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%
The blue-headed coucal (Centropus monachus) is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It is native to tropical central Africa where its typical habitat is swamps, river banks, forest edges and generally wet locations. It is a common bird with a wide range, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated its conservation status as being of "least concern".
The blue-headed coucal is a medium-sized species growing to 45 to 52 cm (18 to 20 in) in length. The sexes are similar, the adult having the head, sides of neck and back black, glossed with blue, the lower back and rump black, the wings predominantly deep chestnut and the tail black, glossed with green or bronze. The underparts are white or pale buff. The eyes are dark red, the beak black and the legs and feet greyish-black. The juvenile is similar to the adult but the black areas are dull rather than glossy; the head is streaked with rufous-buff, the wings are dark chestnut heavily barred with dark brown, and the back and tail are barred with buff. The throat and breast feathers are spotted with black.
The blue-headed coucal occurs in tropical central Africa at...
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Semuliki National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 2 | Kakum National Park | 🇬🇭 Ghana | |
| 3 | Akagera National Park | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 4 | Aberdare National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 5 | Kibale National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 6 | Murchison Falls National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 7 | Bwindi Impenetrable National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 8 | Nyungwe National Park | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 9 | Kidepo Valley National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 10 | Lake Mburo National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 11 | Queen Elizabeth National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Blue-headed Coucal sighting in Kakum National Park on a given day, based on 112 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 96th most-seen of the 250 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 50%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March and April
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Blue-headed Coucal in Kakum National Park on a given day, against about 10% in February and November, the lowest months.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Blue-headed Coucal sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
2nd of 11
Of the 11 parks where we can rate Blue-headed Coucal sightings, Kakum National Park ranks 2nd at about 20%. The best odds are in Semuliki National Park (Uganda, about 30%).
Same genus: Centropus
The closest relatives of the Blue-headed Coucal that you can see in Kakum National Park (genus Centropus, Coucals) are Black-throated Coucal (about 30%) and Senegal Coucal (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Blue-headed Coucal is recorded against all the birds logged in Kakum National Park (112 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.
