Carpodectes nitidus
Silhouette: Edwin Price · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
The snowy cotinga (Carpodectes nitidus) is a medium-sized species of passerine bird in the family Cotingidae. It is found in Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama. The snowy cotinga shares genus Carpodectes with the yellow-billed cotinga (C. antoniae) and the black-tipped cotinga (C. hopkei). One early twentieth century author treated them as conspecific but they have been otherwise treated as separate species. The three form a superspecies. The snowy cotinga is monotypic.
The snowy cotinga is 19.5 to 21 cm (7.7 to 8.3 in) long and weighs an average of 105 g (3.7 oz). The species is sexually dimorphic. Adult males are mostly white with a light bluish gray crown and a very light bluish gray wash on their upperparts and wings. Their flight feathers are wide and have rounded tips. Adult females have a brownish gray head and upperparts with a darker crown. Their tail is blackish. Their wings are mostly blackish with white to grayish white edges on the coverts and inner flight feathers. Their chin is a very light gray; the rest of their underparts are a paler gray than their upperparts that becomes white on the flanks, belly, and undertail... Wikipedia →
Call0:26
Costa Rica · 2018
© Brendan Sloan · XC405999 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bastimentos Island National Marine Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 2 | La Amistad International Park (Panama) | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 3 | Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 4 | Cahuita National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 5 | Tortuguero National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 6 | Braulio Carrillo National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Snowy Cotinga sighting in Tortuguero National Park on a given day, based on 39 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 236th most-seen of the 348 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Snowy Cotinga in Tortuguero National Park on a given day, against under 5% in August to June, the lowest months. That is one of Tortuguero National Park's wettest months, with about 540 mm of rain against 160 mm in March.
Between 6 and 9 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Snowy Cotinga sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
5th of 6
Of the 6 parks where we can rate Snowy Cotinga sightings, Tortuguero National Park ranks 5th at under 5%. The best odds are in Bastimentos Island National Marine Park (Panama, about 10%), La Amistad International Park (Panama) (Panama, under 5%) and Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge (Costa Rica, under 5%).
Same family: Cotingidae
The closest relatives of the Snowy Cotinga that you can see in Tortuguero National Park (family Cotingidae, Cotingas) are Purple-throated Fruitcrow (about 10%), Cinnamon Becard (about 10%) and Masked Tityra (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Snowy Cotinga is recorded against all the birds logged in Tortuguero National Park (39 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.
