Agamia agami
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10%
The agami heron (Agamia agami) is a medium-sized heron. It is a resident breeding bird from Central America south to Peru and Brazil. It is sometimes known as the chestnut-bellied heron, and is the only member of the genus Agamia. In Brazil it is sometimes called Soco beija-flor, meaning 'hummingbird heron', thanks to its unique coloration pattern.
The agami heron is listed as Near Threatened by the IUCN, due to predictions of future habitat destruction within its range. The agami heron was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the herons and cranes in the genus Ardea and coined the binomial name Ardea agami. Gmelin based his description on the "Agami heron" from Cayenne that had been described in 1785 by the English ornithologist John Latham in his book A General Synopsis of Birds. Latham had in turn based his description on a specimen owned by the army officer Thamas Davies and the description and illustration of "Le Héron Agami" by the French polymath Comte de Buffon in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux. The agami heron is now the only species... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 2 | Anavilhanas National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 3 | Tenorio Volcano National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 4 | Yasuní National Park | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 5 | Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary | 🇧🇿 Belize | |
| 6 | Tambopata National Reserve | 🇵🇪 Peru | |
| 7 | Tortuguero National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 8 | Manu National Park | 🇵🇪 Peru | |
| 9 | Darién National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 10 | Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 11 | Tikal National Park | 🇬🇹 Guatemala | |
| 12 | Soberanía National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report an Agami Heron sighting in Tortuguero National Park on a given day, based on 99 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 188th most-seen of the 348 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report an Agami Heron in Tortuguero National Park on a given day, against under 5% in July to May, the lowest months.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Agami Heron sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
7th of 12
Of the 12 parks where we can rate Agami Heron sightings, Tortuguero National Park ranks 7th at under 5%. The best odds are in Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve (Ecuador, about 20%), Anavilhanas National Park (Brazil, about 20%) and Tenorio Volcano National Park (Costa Rica, about 10%).
Same family: Ardeidae
The closest relatives of the Agami Heron that you can see in Tortuguero National Park (family Ardeidae, Herons, Egrets, and Bitterns) are Little Blue Heron (about 60%), Bare-throated Tiger Heron (about 60%) and Green Heron (about 50%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Agami Heron is recorded against all the birds logged in Tortuguero National Park (99 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.
