Onychorhynchus coronatus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
The tropical royal flycatcher (Onychorhynchus coronatus) is a passerine bird that most taxonomic systems place in family Onychorhynchidae. It is found in Mexico, south through most of Central America, and in every mainland South American country except Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
The tropical royal flycatcher was formally described in 1776 by the German zoologist Philipp Statius Müller under the binomial name Muscicapa coronata. Müller based his account on a hand-colored illustration of the "Tyran hupé de Cayenne" that had been engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet. The specific epithet is from Latin coronatus meaning "crowned". The tropical royal flycatcher is now placed together with Atlantic royal flycatcher in the genus Onychorhynchus that was introduced in 1810 by the German naturalist Gotthelf Fischer von Waldheim.
After a complicated history (which see here), the International Ornithological Committee (IOC) and the Clements taxonomy placed the tropical royal flycatcher and the Atlantic royal flycatcher (O. swainsoni) in family Onychorhynchidae.
However, the tropical royal flycatcher's taxonomy remains unsettled. The North and South American Classification... Wikipedia →
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Royal Flycatcher sighting in Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve on a given day, based on 43 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 149th most-seen of the 240 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
November
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Royal Flycatcher in Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve on a given day, against under 5% in January, March–April, July and September, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Royal Flycatcher sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
5th of 26
Of the 26 parks where we can rate Royal Flycatcher sightings, Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve ranks 5th at about 10%. The best odds are in Tikal National Park (Guatemala, about 30%), Santa Rosa National Park (Costa Rica, about 20%) and Carara National Park (Costa Rica, about 20%).
Same family: Tyrannidae
The closest relatives of the Royal Flycatcher that you can see in Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve (family Tyrannidae, Tyrant Flycatchers) are Social Flycatcher (about 60%), Tropical Kingbird (about 30%) and Great Kiskadee (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Royal Flycatcher is recorded against all the birds logged in Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve (43 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.
