Tricolored Munia

Tricolored Munia

Lonchura malacca

Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic

LCLeast ConcernNTVUENCR
Daily sighting probability <5% · Rare
at Manuel Antonio National Park

In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%

44 Verified sightings at Manuel Antonio National Park From 2019 to 2026
1,422 In all 24 parks
April Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Tricolored Munia

The tricoloured munia (Lonchura malacca) is an estrildid finch, native to Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and southern China. The species has also been introduced to the Caribbean, in Trinidad, Jamaica, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Venezuela. This species, like the chestnut munia has been known as the black-headed munia. Immature birds have pale brown upperparts, lack the dark head found in adults, and have uniform buff underparts that can be confused with immatures of other munias such as the scaly-breasted munia.

The tricolored munia was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1766 in the twelfth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Loxia malacca. Linnaeus mistakenly specified the locality as China, Java and Malacca. This was corrected by E. C. Stuart Baker in 1926 as Belgaum in the state of Karnataka in southwest India. The specific epithet malacca is a geographical misnomer; the species does not occur on the Malay Peninsula. The tricolored munia is now placed in the genus Lonchura that was introduced by the English naturalist William Henry Sykes in 1832. This species was formerly treated as conspecific with the... Wikipedia →

Sounds

Call0:12

India · 2012

© vir joshi · XC105865 · CC BY-NC-ND 2.5

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Horton Plains National Park 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
~50%
2 Caroni Swamp 🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago
~20%
3 Yala National Park 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
~20%
4 Wilpattu National Park 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
~10%
5 Minneriya National Park 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
~10%
6 Udawalawe National Park 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
~10%
7 Los Haitises National Park 🇩🇴 Dominican Republic
~10%
8 Chitwan National Park 🇳🇵 Nepal
~10%
9 Royal Bardia National Park 🇳🇵 Nepal
~10%
10 Palo Verde National Park 🇨🇷 Costa Rica
<5%
11 Lago de Yojoa 🇭🇳 Honduras
<5%
12 Manuel Antonio National Park 🇨🇷 Costa Rica
<5%
13 Kanha National Park 🇮🇳 India
<5%
14 Carara National Park 🇨🇷 Costa Rica
<5%
15 Bandipur National Park 🇮🇳 India
<5%
16 Nagarhole National Park 🇮🇳 India
<5%
17 Bandhavgarh National Park 🇮🇳 India
<5%
18 Satpura National Park 🇮🇳 India
<5%
19 Sinharaja Forest Reserve 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
<5%
20 Cerro Azul Meámbar National Park 🇭🇳 Honduras
<5%
21 Sundarbans National Park 🇮🇳 India
<5%
22 Jim Corbett National Park 🇮🇳 India
<5%
23 Braulio Carrillo National Park 🇨🇷 Costa Rica
<5%
24 Keoladeo National Park 🇮🇳 India
<5%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Vijayawada 🇮🇳 India
~20%
2 Tamluk 🇮🇳 India
~10%
3 Vasai-Virar 🇮🇳 India
~10%
4 Surat 🇮🇳 India
~10%
5 Kolkata 🇮🇳 India
~10%
6 Thiruvananthapuram 🇮🇳 India
~10%
7 Ponnani 🇮🇳 India
~10%
8 San Pedro Sula 🇭🇳 Honduras
~10%
9 Jamshedpur 🇮🇳 India
~10%
10 Chattogram 🇧🇩 Bangladesh
~10%

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Tricolored Munia in Manuel Antonio National Park?

Rare

Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Tricolored Munia sighting in Manuel Antonio National Park on a given day, based on 44 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 162nd most-seen of the 325 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.

When is the best time to see a Tricolored Munia in Manuel Antonio National Park?

April

In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Tricolored Munia in Manuel Antonio National Park on a given day, against under 5% in May to March, the lowest months. That is one of Manuel Antonio National Park's driest months, with about 210 mm of rain against 950 mm in October.

What time of day is best to see a Tricolored Munia?

Between 7 and 10 am

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Tricolored Munia sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.

Is Manuel Antonio National Park the best place to see a Tricolored Munia?

12th of 24

Of the 24 parks where we can rate Tricolored Munia sightings, Manuel Antonio National Park ranks 12th at under 5%. The best odds are in Horton Plains National Park (Sri Lanka, about 50%), Caroni Swamp (Trinidad and Tobago, about 20%) and Yala National Park (Sri Lanka, about 20%).

Which relatives of the Tricolored Munia live in Manuel Antonio National Park?

Same order: Passeriformes

The closest relatives of the Tricolored Munia that you can see in Manuel Antonio National Park (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are Great Kiskadee (about 70%), Great-tailed Grackle (about 60%) and Tropical Kingbird (about 60%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.

Where does the Tricolored Munia sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Tricolored Munia is recorded against all the birds logged in Manuel Antonio National Park (44 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.

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