Hedydipna metallica
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~80% in a week >90%
The Nile Valley sunbird (Hedydipna metallica) is a species of bird in the family Nectariniidae. It is found in Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Libya, and Yemen. In February, the male Nile Valley sunbird assumes his nuptial plumage which he displays in flamboyant fashion. In winter both sexes look alike, tiny, only 9 to 10 cm long, pale grey above and washed-out yellow below, with a long, slender and slightly down-curved bill.
By February the male is transformed into a glossy green extrovert with a brilliant sulfur-yellow belly and long tail streamers that add about an extra five centimetres to his length. Once transformed, he will be puffing up and parading his newfound finery and courting his duller mate. The display includes a hovering, accompanied by body rocking and wing-whirring. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Awash National Park | 🇪🇹 Ethiopia |
More parks will be added in future updates.
Likely
About 50% of wildlife watchers report a Nile Valley Sunbird sighting in Awash National Park on a given day, based on 74 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 12th most-seen of the 217 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 80%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April
In that month about 80% of wildlife watchers report a Nile Valley Sunbird in Awash National Park on a given day, against about 20% in December, the lowest month. That is one of Awash National Park's wettest months, with about 75 mm of rain against 10 mm in January. 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 Nile Valley Sunbird sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Awash National Park, in our data
Awash National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Nile Valley Sunbird sightings: about 50% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same family: Nectariniidae
The closest relatives of the Nile Valley Sunbird that you can see in Awash National Park (family Nectariniidae, Sunbirds and Spiderhunters) are Beautiful Sunbird (about 40%), Shining Sunbird (about 40%) and Mariqua Sunbird (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Nile Valley Sunbird is recorded against all the birds logged in Awash National Park (74 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.
