Morococcyx erythropygus
Silhouette: Nicolas Huet le Jeune and Jean-Gabriel Prêtre (vectorized by T. Michael Keesey) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
The lesser ground cuckoo (Morococcyx erythropygus) is a species of cuckoo in the tribe Neomorphini of subfamily Crotophaginae. It is found in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua. The lesser ground cuckoo is the only member of its genus.
The lesser ground cuckoo is 25 to 28 cm (9.8 to 11 in) long. Males weigh about 58 to 66 g (2.0 to 2.3 oz) and females about 56 to 76 g (2.0 to 2.7 oz). Females are somewhat paler than males but otherwise do not differ. They have a slightly decurved bill with a blackish brown maxilla and an orange mandible. Their face is intricately patterned, with a bright yellow ring around the eye with bare blue skin behind it and thin black lines surrounding the area, a short indistinct whitish stripe above the eye, and cinnamon ocracous cheeks. Adults of the nominate subspecies have a grayish brown crown, an olive brown nape and back, a sooty blackish lower back and rump, and olive brown uppertail coverts. Their tail is mostly olive brown with a purplish bronze gloss and buff to whitish tips on top and light... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rincón de la Vieja National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 2 | Cañón del Sumidero National Park | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 3 | Palo Verde National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 4 | Masaya Volcano National Park | 🇳🇮 Nicaragua | |
| 5 | Santa Rosa National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 6 | El Triunfo | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 7 | Ostional Wildlife Refuge | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 8 | Las Baulas Marine National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 9 | Carara National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 10 | Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Pedro Sula | 🇭🇳 Honduras | |
| 2 | Tegucigalpa | 🇭🇳 Honduras | |
| 3 | Managua | 🇳🇮 Nicaragua | |
| 4 | San José | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 5 | San Salvador | 🇸🇻 El Salvador |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Lesser Ground-Cuckoo sighting in Palo Verde National Park on a given day, based on 143 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 97th most-seen of the 274 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.
October
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Lesser Ground-Cuckoo in Palo Verde National Park on a given day, against under 5% in February and September, the lowest months. That is one of Palo Verde National Park's wettest months, with about 480 mm of rain against almost none in February.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Lesser Ground-Cuckoo sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
3rd of 10
Of the 10 parks where we can rate Lesser Ground-Cuckoo sightings, Palo Verde National Park ranks 3rd at about 10%. The best odds are in Rincón de la Vieja National Park (Costa Rica, about 30%) and Cañón del Sumidero National Park (Mexico, about 10%).
Same family: Cuculidae
The closest relatives of the Lesser Ground-Cuckoo that you can see in Palo Verde National Park (family Cuculidae, Cuckoos) are Groove-billed Ani (about 70%), Mangrove Cuckoo (about 20%) and Squirrel Cuckoo (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Lesser Ground-Cuckoo is recorded against all the birds logged in Palo Verde National Park (143 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.
