Tanysiptera galatea
Silhouette: Steven Traver · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~70% in a week >90%
The common paradise kingfisher (Tanysiptera galatea), also known as the Galatea paradise kingfisher and the racquet-tailed kingfisher, is a species of bird in the family Alcedinidae. It is found in subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests of the Maluku Islands and New Guinea. Like all paradise kingfishers, it has a red bill and colourful plumage. The species is common and the IUCN has assessed its conservation status as being of "least concern".
The common paradise kingfisher was first described by the English zoologist George Robert Gray in 1859 based on specimens collected by Alfred Russel Wallace near "Dorey" (modern Manokwari in western New Guinea). Gray coined the current binomial name Tanysiptera galatea. The genus Tanysiptera had been introduced by the Irish zoologist Nicholas Aylward Vigors in 1825. The name Tanysiptera is from classical Greek tanusipteros meaning 'long-feathered'. The specific epithet galatea is from Greek mythology: Galatea was a sea nymph.
There are 15 recognised subspecies. Of these three occur on mainland New Guinea, 11 on the Maluku Islands to the west of New Guinea, and two on other islands. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Raja Ampat | 🇮🇩 Indonesia |
More parks will be added in future updates.
Likely
About 40% of wildlife watchers report a Common Paradise-Kingfisher sighting in Raja Ampat on a given day, based on 510 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 26th most-seen of the 200 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 70%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January, March, May–June and August–November
In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Common Paradise-Kingfisher in Raja Ampat on a given day, against about 20% in December, the lowest month.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Common Paradise-Kingfisher sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 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 Common Paradise-Kingfisher sightings: about 40% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Common Paradise-Kingfisher is recorded against all the birds logged in Raja Ampat (510 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.
