Indicator xanthonotus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The yellow-rumped honeyguide (Indicator xanthonotus) is a sparrow-sized bird in the honeyguide family that is found in Asia, mainly in montane forests along the Himalayas. They are very finch-like but the feet are strong and zygodactyl, with two toes facing forward and two backward. They perch on honeycombs and feed on wax. Males tend to be territorial and stay near honeycombs while females and juveniles forage widely. They are brood parasites, laying their eggs in the nests of tree-hole breeders, possibly barbets.
The yellow-rumped honeyguide is sparrow sized and has a stout finch-like bill. The plumage is largely dusky olive and the forehead and lores are orange. There is a streaked appearance to the wing feathers. The rump is deep orange and extends into the back grading to sulphur yellow. The chin and throat are yellowish while the lower plumage is pale grey with dark streaks. The bill is yellow but dark towards the tip. Females have less extensive yellow on the face and the rump is yellow and lacks the orange. Allan Octavian Hume described the subspecies radcliffi (after Colonel E. Delmé-Radcliffe) based on specimens from Hazara but no specimens or information... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Royal Manas National Park | 🇧🇹 Bhutan | |
| 2 | Langtang National Park | 🇳🇵 Nepal |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Yellow-rumped Honeyguide sighting in Langtang National Park on a given day, based on 15 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 151st most-seen of the 225 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.
February–April and October–November
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Yellow-rumped Honeyguide in Langtang National Park on a given day, against under 5% in May–September and December–January, the lowest months. Those are among Langtang National Park's driest months, with about 45 mm of rain a month against 390 mm in July.
Between 1 and 4 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Yellow-rumped Honeyguide 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 2
Of the 2 parks where we can rate Yellow-rumped Honeyguide sightings, Langtang National Park ranks 2nd at under 5%. The best odds are in Royal Manas National Park (Bhutan, about 10%).
Same order: Piciformes
The closest relatives of the Yellow-rumped Honeyguide that you can see in Langtang National Park (order Piciformes, Woodpeckers and Allies) are Great Barbet (about 10%), Darjeeling Woodpecker (about 10%) and Scaly-bellied Woodpecker (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Yellow-rumped Honeyguide is recorded against all the birds logged in Langtang National Park (15 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.
