Centropus monachus
Silhouette: Nicolas Huet le Jeune and Jean-Gabriel Prêtre (vectorized by T. Michael Keesey) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
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... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Semuliki National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 2 | Akagera National Park | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 3 | Aberdare National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 4 | Kibale National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 5 | Murchison Falls National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 6 | Bwindi Impenetrable National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 7 | Nyungwe National Park | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 8 | Kidepo Valley National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 9 | Lake Mburo National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 10 | Queen Elizabeth National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Blue-headed Coucal sighting in Kidepo Valley National Park on a given day, based on 12 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 246th most-seen of the 332 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.
September
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Blue-headed Coucal in Kidepo Valley National Park on a given day, against under 5% in June–August and October–March, the lowest months. April and May have too few records to rate.
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.
8th of 10
Of the 10 parks where we can rate Blue-headed Coucal sightings, Kidepo Valley National Park ranks 8th at under 5%. The best odds are in Semuliki National Park (Uganda, about 30%), Akagera National Park (Rwanda, about 10%) and Aberdare National Park (Kenya, about 10%).
Same genus: Centropus
The closest relatives of the Blue-headed Coucal that you can see in Kidepo Valley National Park (genus Centropus, Coucals) are White-browed Coucal (about 60%), Black Coucal (about 20%) 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 Kidepo Valley National Park (12 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.
