Cisticola erythrops
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The red-faced cisticola (Cisticola erythrops) is a species of bird in the family Cisticolidae. It is widely present across sub-Saharan Africa (rare in southern Africa). Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical seasonally wet or flooded lowland grassland and swamps.
The red-faced cisticola was formally described in 1857 by the German ornithologist Gustav Hartlaub under the binomial name Drymoeca erythrops based on a specimen collected near Calabar in Nigeria. The specific epithet erythrops combines the Ancient Greek ερυθρος/eruthros meaning "red" with ωψ/ōps meaning "eye" or "face". The red-faced cisticola is now one of 53 species placed in the genus Cisticola that was introduced in 1829 by the German naturalist Johann Jakob Kaup.
Six subspecies are recognised: Cisticola erythrops erythrops (Hartlaub, 1857) – Mauritania, Senegal and Gambia to Central African Republic, Congo and Gabon Cisticola erythrops pyrrhomitra Reichenow, 1916 – southeast Sudan and Ethiopia
Cisticola erythrops niloticus Madarász, G, 1914 – central Sudan Cisticola erythrops sylvia Reichenow, 1904 – northeast DR Congo and south Sudan to Kenya and central Tanzania Cisticola erythrops nyasa Lynes... Wikipedia →
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Red-faced Cisticola sighting in Aberdare National Park on a given day, based on 11 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 154th most-seen of the 217 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Red-faced Cisticola in Aberdare National Park on a given day, against under 5% in March–July and September–December, the lowest months. That is one of Aberdare National Park's driest months, with about 65 mm of rain against 210 mm in May.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Red-faced Cisticola sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
17th of 30
Of the 30 parks where we can rate Red-faced Cisticola sightings, Aberdare National Park ranks 17th at under 5%. The best odds are in Kibale National Park (Uganda, about 30%), Kruger National Park (South Africa, about 20%) and Queen Elizabeth National Park (Uganda, about 10%).
Same genus: Cisticola
The closest relatives of the Red-faced Cisticola that you can see in Aberdare National Park (genus Cisticola, Cisticolas) are Hunter's Cisticola (about 80%), Aberdare Cisticola (about 40%) and Rattling Cisticola (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Red-faced Cisticola is recorded against all the birds logged in Aberdare National Park (11 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.
