Enicurus maculatus
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
The spotted forktail (Enicurus maculatus) is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is found in the Himalayas and the hills of Northeast India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and southern China including Yunnan. Birds of this species are 25 cm with a long tail. The sexes are alike, having a white forehead and a black crown and nape, a black back spotted white, and a broad white wing bar. The tail is deeply forked, graduated black and white. The white spotted back easily identifies this species from other similar sized forktail. Its call is a shrill, screechy KREE, mostly given in flight; it also makes some shrill, squeaky notes while perched. It breeds mostly at 1200–3600 m, and descends to about 600 m in winter. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests, where it is found in boulder-strewn torrents, forest streams, and roadside canals. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Namdapha National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Royal Manas National Park | 🇧🇹 Bhutan | |
| 3 | Langtang National Park | 🇳🇵 Nepal | |
| 4 | Jim Corbett National Park | 🇮🇳 India |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kathmandu | 🇳🇵 Nepal |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Spotted Forktail sighting in Namdapha National Park on a given day, based on 172 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 97th most-seen of the 298 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January and February
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Spotted Forktail in Namdapha National Park on a given day, against under 5% in March and April, the lowest months. Those are among Namdapha National Park's driest months, with about 80 mm of rain a month against 660 mm in July. June to September have too few records to rate.
Between 2 and 5 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Spotted Forktail sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 4 parks where we can rate Spotted Forktail sightings, Namdapha National Park has the highest daily chance: about 10%. Next come Royal Manas National Park (Bhutan, about 10%) and Langtang National Park (Nepal, about 10%).
Same genus: Enicurus
The closest relatives of the Spotted Forktail that you can see in Namdapha National Park (genus Enicurus, Forktails) are Slaty-backed Forktail (about 50%), White-crowned Forktail (about 30%) and Little Forktail (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Spotted Forktail is recorded against all the birds logged in Namdapha National Park (172 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.
