Cisticola chubbi
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
Chubb's cisticola (Cisticola chubbi) is a species of bird in the family Cisticolidae. It is native to the Western High Plateau, the Albertine Rift montane forests and the East African montane forests. There are four subspecies:
It is territorial. It spends most of its time in dense vegetation. In duets, males trill and females whistle. Females produce longer and lower-pitched notes. Chubb's cisticolas also sometimes sing in choruses of up to five; this is most common at the end of breeding season. Solo singing is very rare.
Duets and choruses are likely primarily for the purpose of territorial defense. They are always done while in sight of the other participating bird(s)—less than 1 meter apart. They perform dance-like movements such as moving their tails and flapping their wings to make snapping noises.
They sing from elevated places. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Volcanoes National Park | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 2 | Nyungwe National Park | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 3 | Bwindi Impenetrable National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 4 | Virunga National Park | 🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of the Congo | |
| 5 | Akagera National Park | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 6 | Kibale National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 7 | Queen Elizabeth National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kigali | 🇷🇼 Rwanda |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Chubb's Cisticola sighting in Akagera National Park on a given day, based on 26 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 215th most-seen of the 320 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January–February, May–July and September
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Chubb's Cisticola in Akagera National Park on a given day, against under 5% in March–April, August and October–December, the lowest months. Those are among Akagera National Park's driest months, with about 30 mm of rain a month against 110 mm in November.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Chubb's Cisticola sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
5th of 7
Of the 7 parks where we can rate Chubb's Cisticola sightings, Akagera National Park ranks 5th at under 5%. The best odds are in Volcanoes National Park (Rwanda, about 80%), Nyungwe National Park (Rwanda, about 70%) and Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (Uganda, about 50%). All parks ranked.
Same genus: Cisticola
The closest relatives of the Chubb's Cisticola that you can see in Akagera National Park (genus Cisticola, Cisticolas) are Trilling Cisticola (about 30%), Croaking Cisticola (about 20%) and Tabora Cisticola (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Chubb's Cisticola is recorded against all the birds logged in Akagera National Park (26 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.
