Lorius lory
Silhouette: Farelli (photo), John E. McCormack, Michael G. Harvey, Brant C. Faircloth, Nicholas G. Crawford, Travis C. Glenn, Robb T. Brumfield & T. Michael Keesey · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%
The black-capped lory (Lorius lory) also known as western black-capped lory or the tricolored lory, is a parrot found in New Guinea and adjacent smaller islands. It is a colourful and relatively robust lory (31 cm (12 in)). There are seven subspecies, all with green wings, red heads and body around the wing, a black cap, grey-black cere, yellow underwings, and blue legs and belly. Most also have a blue nape and mantle (area between wings on the back). It remains overall widespread and common, but the subspecies cyanuchen is relatively rare, with fewer than 5,000 individuals remaining.
The black-capped lory was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Psittacus lory. Linnaeus based his description of "The first Black Capped Lory" that had been described and illustrated in 1751 by the English naturalist George Edwards in his A Natural History of Uncommon Birds. The name lory is from the Malay word for these brightly coloured parrots. The black-capped lory is now placed in the genus Lorius that was introduced in 1825 by the Irish zoologist Nicholas Aylward Vigors. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Raja Ampat | 🇮🇩 Indonesia |
More parks will be added in future updates.
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Black-capped Lory sighting in Raja Ampat on a given day, based on 13 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 55th most-seen of the 200 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 50%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June
In that month about 50% of wildlife watchers report a Black-capped Lory in Raja Ampat on a given day, against under 5% in February, April, July, September and December, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Black-capped Lory sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Raja Ampat, in our data
Raja Ampat is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Black-capped Lory sightings: about 20% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same family: Psittacidae
The closest relatives of the Black-capped Lory that you can see in Raja Ampat (family Psittacidae, New World and African Parrots) are Red-sided Eclectus (about 70%), Red-cheeked Parrot (about 50%) and Palm Cockatoo (about 50%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Black-capped Lory is recorded against all the birds logged in Raja Ampat (13 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.
