Rhopodytes viridirostris
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~60%
The blue-faced malkoha (Phaenicophaeus viridirostris) or small green-billed malkoha, is a non-parasitic cuckoo found in the scrub and deciduous forests of peninsular India and Sri Lanka. It has a waxy, dark, blue-grey plumage on its upperparts and has a long tail with graduated white-tipped feathers. The throat and chin are dark with spiny pale feathers that are branched. The lower belly is a dull creamy to rufous colour. The bill is apple green, and a naked patch of blue skin surrounds the eye. The sexes are alike. The blue-faced malkoha is a bird of open forests and scrub jungle.
A largish species at 39 cm, its back and head are dark grey with an oily green or blue gloss, and the dark tail has graduated feathers tipped with white. The belly is pale ochre to grey. The feathers of the chin and throat are branched (unlike in Phaenicophaeus tristis) with the branched tips being pointed and slightly yellowish giving the throat a streaked and spiny appearance. There is a large blue patch around the eye, with a white fringed red iris, and the bill is apple green. The sexes are indistinguishable by external appearance. Birds from Sri Lanka have a broader white tip to the... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Udawalawe National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 2 | Yala National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 3 | Wilpattu National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 4 | Nagarhole National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Minneriya National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 6 | Bandipur National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Mudumalai National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 8 | Periyar National Park | 🇮🇳 India |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tiruchirappalli | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Coimbatore | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Thrissur | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 4 | Mysuru | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Hyderabad | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 6 | Tiruppur | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Chennai | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 8 | Bengaluru | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 9 | Kozhikode | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 10 | Madurai | 🇮🇳 India |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Blue-faced Malkoha sighting in Nagarhole National Park on a given day, based on 257 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 96th most-seen of the 272 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January–February and April
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Blue-faced Malkoha in Nagarhole National Park on a given day, against about 10% in March and May–December, the lowest months. Those are among Nagarhole National Park's driest months, with about 25 mm of rain a month against 270 mm in July.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Blue-faced Malkoha sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
4th of 8
Of the 8 parks where we can rate Blue-faced Malkoha sightings, Nagarhole National Park ranks 4th at about 10%. The best odds are in Udawalawe National Park (Sri Lanka, about 50%), Yala National Park (Sri Lanka, about 30%) and Wilpattu National Park (Sri Lanka, about 30%).
Same family: Cuculidae
The closest relatives of the Blue-faced Malkoha that you can see in Nagarhole National Park (family Cuculidae, Cuckoos) are Greater Coucal (about 40%), Common Hawk-Cuckoo (about 40%) and Asian Koel (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Blue-faced Malkoha is recorded against all the birds logged in Nagarhole National Park (257 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.
