Philepitta castanea
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~80%
The velvet asity (Philepitta castanea) is a bird species in the family Philepittidae that is endemic to Madagascar. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. Non-breeding males have yellow-tipped feathers, while breeding males have a velvety black plumage with a pair of green fleshy supraorbital caruncles above the eyes. Adult females are greenish and have underparts striped with pale yellow-green longitudinal lines. Velvet asities eat berries and other fruits in the undergrowth. They build hanging nests with a little roof over the entrance. The species is listed as “Least Concern” on the IUCN Red List.
The velvet asity is a member of a monophyletic group within the order Passeriformes and the family Philepittidae. Philepittidae was originally considered a distinct and isolated family within the suboscine passerines. However, phylogenetic analysis revealed that asities were closely related to the Old World broadbills (family Eurylaimidae).
Within Philepittidae, two genera are currently recognized: Philepitta and Neodrepanis. Philepitta and Neodrepanis comprise four species of asities, all of which are endemic to Madagascar. The genus Philepitta... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ranomafana National Park | 🇲🇬 Madagascar | |
| 2 | Mantadia National Park | 🇲🇬 Madagascar |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Velvet Asity sighting in Mantadia National Park on a given day, based on 91 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 58th most-seen of the 98 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Velvet Asity in Mantadia National Park on a given day, against about 10% in May–July and September, the lowest months. That is one of Mantadia National Park's driest months, with about 60 mm of rain against 340 mm in January. January to April have too few records to rate.
Between 6 and 9 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Velvet Asity sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 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 Velvet Asity sightings, Mantadia National Park ranks 2nd at about 20%. The best odds are in Ranomafana National Park (Madagascar, about 50%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Velvet Asity is recorded against all the birds logged in Mantadia National Park (91 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.
