Coracina melanoptera
Silhouette: PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
The black-headed cuckooshrike (Lalage melanoptera) is a species of cuckooshrike found in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. The Black-headed Cuckooshrike is a 18-20 cm slender bird found in the Indian subcontinent with distinct sexual dimorphism. Males feature a dark slaty-grey hood, neck, and upper breast, contrasting with a pale grey back and white belly. They have blackish wings with grey edges and white-tipped tail feathers. The females are duller, with brownish-grey upperparts, a whitish supercilium (eyebrow), and heavily barred underparts with a dark grey bill.
This is a resident and partially bird migratory that is found across the Indian subcontinent, including India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bhutan, extending to Myanmar. It inhabits open, dry-deciduous, or semi-evergreen forests, secondary growth, bamboo patches, and, frequently, urban gardens, orchards, and agricultural plantations up to 2,100 meters, typically preferring lower altitudes. Primarily distributed across India (from the Himalayan foothills in the north to the peninsula, including Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Kerala), with breeding populations... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mudumalai National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Sinharaja Forest Reserve | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 3 | Udawalawe National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 4 | Minneriya National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 5 | Sundarbans National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 6 | Yala National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 7 | Wilpattu National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 8 | Bandipur National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 9 | Nagarhole National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 10 | Bandhavgarh National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 11 | Gir National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 12 | Kanha National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 13 | Satpura National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 14 | Ranthambore National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 15 | Periyar National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 16 | Jim Corbett National Park | 🇮🇳 India |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Black-headed Cuckooshrike sighting in Wilpattu National Park on a given day, based on 46 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 109th most-seen of the 169 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February and April–May
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Black-headed Cuckooshrike in Wilpattu National Park on a given day, against under 5% in July and October, the lowest months.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Black-headed Cuckooshrike sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
7th of 16
Of the 16 parks where we can rate Black-headed Cuckooshrike sightings, Wilpattu National Park ranks 7th at about 10%. The best odds are in Mudumalai National Park (India, about 20%), Sinharaja Forest Reserve (Sri Lanka, about 20%) and Udawalawe National Park (Sri Lanka, about 20%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Black-headed Cuckooshrike is recorded against all the birds logged in Wilpattu National Park (46 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.
