Pinarochroa sordida
Silhouette: Martin Bulla, based on François Desbordes' illustration · PhyloPic
In 3 days >90%
The moorland chat (Pinarochroa sordida), also known as the alpine chat or hill chat, is a species of songbird in the Old World flycatcher family. It is endemic to the eastern Afromontane. It lives at high altitudes on moors and grassland, usually above 3,400 m (11,100 ft), but can live as low as 2,100 m (6,900 ft). It has a short tail and long legs. It is bold and will approach people.
The moorland chat was formally described in 1837 by the German naturalist Eduard Rüppell from a specimen collected in the Simien Mountains of northern Ethiopia. Rüppell coined the binomial name Saxicola sordica. The chat was discovered on Mount Elgon on the Uganda-Kenya border by Frederick Jackson. The English geographer Halford Mackinder brought back the same bird from Mount Kenya in 1899. He presented a paper on the first ascent to the Royal Geographical Society in 1900. The scientific results of his expedition were discussed in detail afterwards.
A very curious little bird was found by Mr Jackson on Mount Elgon at a height of 11,000 feet, and I remember saying to Mr. Mackinder that he was bound to find the same sort of little chat on Mount Kenya, at a height of 11,000 feet. This... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bale Mountains National Park | 🇪🇹 Ethiopia | |
| 2 | Aberdare National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 3 | Ngorongoro Conservation Area | 🇹🇿 Tanzania |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Addis Ababa | 🇪🇹 Ethiopia |
Very likely
About 80% of wildlife watchers report a Moorland Chat sighting in Bale Mountains National Park on a given day, based on 266 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 2nd most-seen of the 117 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May
In that month over 90% of wildlife watchers report a Moorland Chat in Bale Mountains National Park on a given day, against about 70% in February, the lowest month. March and September have too few records to rate.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Moorland Chat sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 3 parks where we can rate Moorland Chat sightings, Bale Mountains National Park has the highest daily chance: about 80%. Next come Aberdare National Park (Kenya, about 50%) and Ngorongoro Conservation Area (Tanzania, under 5%).
Same family: Muscicapidae
The closest relatives of the Moorland Chat that you can see in Bale Mountains National Park (family Muscicapidae, Old World Flycatchers, Robins, and Chats) are African Stonechat (about 40%), Abyssinian Slaty Flycatcher (about 20%) and African Dusky Flycatcher (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Moorland Chat is recorded against all the birds logged in Bale Mountains National Park (266 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.
