Tanysiptera ellioti
Silhouette: Steven Traver · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~30%
The Kofiau paradise kingfisher (Tanysiptera ellioti) is a tree kingfisher belonging to the family Alcedinidae, subfamily Halcyoninae. This little-known bird is sometimes considered a subspecies of the common paradise kingfisher (T. galatea), but it is morphologically distinct and del Hoyo lists it as a separate species.
This species is endemic to the Indonesian island Kofiau, off the west coast of New Guinea. The Kofiau paradise kingfisher inhabits primary forest, tall secondary forest and subtropical/tropical moist lowlands. The species is also common in lightly wooded village gardens.
The Kofiau paradise kingfisher is about 34 cm (13.4 in) long including its elongated tail feathers, reaching 10–11 cm (3.9–4.3 in). The head and upper parts of both male and female are dark blue and the rump, tail and underparts are white. The central tail feathers are long and tapering. The bill is scarlet.
It feeds on insects and worms that it catches on the ground. Wikipedia →
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Indonesia · 2025
© Dušan M. Brinkhuizen · XC1065996 · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Raja Ampat | 🇮🇩 Indonesia |
More parks will be added in future updates.
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Kofiau Paradise-Kingfisher sighting in Raja Ampat on a given day, based on 73 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 120th most-seen of the 200 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
October and November
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Kofiau Paradise-Kingfisher in Raja Ampat on a given day, against under 5% in April–September and December–February, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Kofiau Paradise-Kingfisher sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 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 Kofiau Paradise-Kingfisher sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Kofiau Paradise-Kingfisher is recorded against all the birds logged in Raja Ampat (73 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.
