Carterornis chrysomela
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~60% in a week ~90%
The golden monarch (Carterornis chrysomela) is a species of passerine bird in the family Monarchidae found in New Guinea. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical moist montane forest. The golden monarch displays marked sexual dimorphism, the male a striking golden colour with black mask, wings and tail, the female a golden or golden-olive colour. Both bear a characteristic 'teardrop' white pattern below the eye.
The golden monarch was first described by French naturalist Prosper Garnot in 1827. It was originally described in the genus Muscicapa and then placed in the genus Monarcha until moved to Carterornis in 2009. The golden monarch is a member of a group of birds termed monarch flycatchers. This group is considered either as a subfamily Monarchinae, together with the fantails as part of the drongo family Dicruridae, or as a family Monarchidae in its own right. They are not closely related to their namesakes, the Old World flycatchers of the family Muscicapidae as early molecular research in the late 1980s and early 1990s revealed that the monarchs belong to a large group of mainly Australasian... 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 Golden Monarch sighting in Raja Ampat on a given day, based on 288 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 48th most-seen of the 200 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 60%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June
In that month about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Golden Monarch in Raja Ampat on a given day, against under 5% in December, the lowest month.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Golden Monarch sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is seen both by day and at night.
Only Raja Ampat, in our data
Raja Ampat is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Golden Monarch sightings: about 20% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same family: Monarchidae
The closest relatives of the Golden Monarch that you can see in Raja Ampat (family Monarchidae, Monarch Flycatchers) are Shining Flycatcher (about 40%), Frilled Monarch (about 30%) and Spot-winged Monarch (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Golden Monarch is recorded against all the birds logged in Raja Ampat (288 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.
