Phoeniculus somaliensis
Silhouette: Jon Hill (Photo by DickDaniels: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Green_Woodhoopoe_RWD7.jpg) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
The black-billed wood hoopoe (Phoeniculus somaliensis) is a species of bird in the family Phoeniculidae. It is native to eastern Africa where it is found in wooded and scrubby areas. The black-billed wood hoopoe is very similar to the green wood hoopoe (Phoeniculus purpureus) in appearance, but lacks the greenish gloss on the head and mantle and has a black beak rather than a red one, though there is sometimes a reddish tinge at the base of the beak. The sexes are similar and the adult bird is about 37 cm (15 in) long. The plumage is generally black with a bluish or purplish gloss, and a row of white spots on the flight feathers giving a white bar on the wings in flight. The long, graduated tail has white spots at the edge.
It is found in eastern Africa, its range including Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan at altitudes of up to about 2,000 m (6,600 ft). It is a bird of woodland, scrubby areas, forest edges, and gallery forests, and among large trees such as Acacias growing in wadis.
The black-billed wood hoopoe feeds on arthropods, millipedes, beetles and other invertebrates, foraging on... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Awash National Park | 🇪🇹 Ethiopia |
More parks will be added in future updates.
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Black-billed Wood Hoopoe sighting in Awash National Park on a given day, based on 11 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 161st most-seen of the 217 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June and July
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Black-billed Wood Hoopoe in Awash National Park on a given day, against under 5% in April, August and November–January, the lowest months. February–March, May and September have too few records to rate.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Black-billed Wood Hoopoe sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is seen both by day and at night.
Only Awash National Park, in our data
Awash National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Black-billed Wood Hoopoe sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Black-billed Wood Hoopoe is recorded against all the birds logged in Awash 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.
