Pericrocotus flammeus
Silhouette: PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
The orange minivet (Pericrocotus flammeus) is a brightly colored bird in the cuckooshrike family, Campephagidae. It is found all along the Western Ghats and west coast of India and Sri Lanka. It was formerly considered a subspecies of the scarlet minivet which is considered to have a wider distribution in eastern and northern India and South-east Asia. Its natural habitats are temperate forests, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, and subtropical or tropical moist montane forest. The orange minivet is a species resident in southern India and Sri Lanka, that feeds primarily on insects while foraging in mixed-species bird flocks or in small single-species groups.
The genus name comes from Ancient Greek peri - 'very'; krokotus 'saffron-coloured'. The species name flammeus has its roots in Latin, meaning 'fiery' or 'flame-coloured' (flamma - 'flame'). The English name of this species was changed from scarlet minivet to orange minivet after the former was assigned to Pericrocotus speciosus following the split of these two species. This is a complex of species from South and South-east Asia which needs more detailed work.
The orange... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sinharaja Forest Reserve | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 2 | Periyar National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Horton Plains National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 4 | Mudumalai National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Nagarhole National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 6 | Eravikulam National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Bandipur National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 8 | Minneriya National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 9 | Yala National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 10 | Udawalawe National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 11 | Wilpattu National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thrissur | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Kozhikode | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Colombo [Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte] | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report an Orange Minivet sighting in Minneriya National Park on a given day, based on 42 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 110th most-seen of the 155 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April–May and September–January
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report an Orange Minivet in Minneriya National Park on a given day, against under 5% in February–March and June–August, the lowest months.
Between 3 and 6 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Orange Minivet sightings with a recorded time, and about half of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
8th of 11
Of the 11 parks where we can rate Orange Minivet sightings, Minneriya National Park ranks 8th at about 10%. The best odds are in Sinharaja Forest Reserve (Sri Lanka, about 60%), Periyar National Park (India, about 60%) and Horton Plains National Park (Sri Lanka, about 40%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Orange Minivet is recorded against all the birds logged in Minneriya National Park (42 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.
