Aegithina tiphia
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~80% in a week >90%
The common iora (Aegithina tiphia) is a small passerine bird found across the tropical Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, with populations showing plumage variations, some of which are designated as subspecies. A species found in scrub and forest, it is easily detected from its loud whistles and the bright colours. During the breeding season, males display by fluffing up their feathers and spiral in the air appearing like a green, black, yellow, and white ball.
In 1747 the English naturalist George Edwards included an illustration and a description of the common iora in the second volume of his A Natural History of Uncommon Birds. He used the English name "The Green Indian Fly-Catcher". Edwards based his hand-coloured etching on a specimen that had been sent from Bengal to the silk-pattern designer and naturalist Joseph Dandridge in London. When in 1758 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the tenth edition, he placed the common iora in the genus Motacilla. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Motacilla tiphia and cited Edwards' work. The common iora is now placed in the genus Aegithina that was introduced... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Savar | 🇧🇩 Bangladesh | |
| 2 | Solapur | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Yogyakarta | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 4 | Jakarta | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 5 | Thrissur | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 6 | Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Bhopal | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 8 | Jabalpur | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 9 | Yangon | 🇲🇲 Myanmar | |
| 10 | Asansol | 🇮🇳 India |
Likely
About 40% of wildlife watchers report a Common Iora sighting in Minneriya National Park on a given day, based on 259 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 17th most-seen of the 155 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 80%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January to March
In those months about 50% of wildlife watchers report a Common Iora in Minneriya National Park on a given day, against about 20% in July, the lowest month.
Between 2 and 5 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Common Iora sightings with a recorded time, and about half of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
9th of 40
Of the 40 parks where we can rate Common Iora sightings, Minneriya National Park ranks 9th at about 40%. The best odds are in Bali Barat National Park (Indonesia, about 70%), Bako National Park (Malaysia, about 70%) and Yala National Park (Sri Lanka, about 50%). All parks ranked.
Same order: Passeriformes
The closest relatives of the Common Iora that you can see in Minneriya National Park (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are Indian Robin (about 50%), Purple-rumped Sunbird (about 50%) and Black-hooded Oriole (about 40%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Common Iora is recorded against all the birds logged in Minneriya National Park (259 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.
