Anhinga rufa
Silhouette: Edwin Price · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~70% in a week ~90%
The African darter (Anhinga rufa), sometimes called the snakebird, is a water bird of Sub-Saharan Africa and Iraq. The African darter is a member of the darter family, Anhingidae, and is closely related to American (A. anhinga), Oriental (A. melanogaster), and Australasian (A. novaehollandiae) darters.
The African darter is 80 cm (31 in) long. Like other anhingas, it has a very long neck. The male is mainly glossy black with white streaking; females and immature birds are browner. The African darter differs in appearance from the American darter most recognisably by its thin white lateral neck stripe against a rufous background colour. The pointed bill prevents confusion with cormorants.
The African darter is found throughout Sub-Saharan Africa wherever large bodies of water occur; overall, the species remains widespread and common. The only non-African subspecies, the Levant darter (Anhinga rufa chantrei), occurred at Lake Amik (Amik Gölü) in south-central Turkey, in the Hula Valley lake and marshes in northern Israel and in the Mesopotamian Marshes of the lower Euphrates and Tigris rivers in southern Iraq. The Turkish population... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dakar | 🇸🇳 Senegal | |
| 2 | Cape Town | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | Brazzaville | 🇨🇬 Republic of the Congo | |
| 4 | Mombasa | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 5 | Serrekunda | 🇬🇲 Gambia | |
| 6 | Pretoria | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 7 | Johannesburg | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 8 | Durban | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 9 | Nairobi | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 10 | Kampala | 🇺🇬 Uganda |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Diego Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Bronx Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report an African Darter sighting in Cape Town on a given day, based on 1,071 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 30th most-seen of the 196 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 70%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January
In that month about 40% of wildlife watchers report an African Darter in Cape Town on a given day, against about 20% in August, the lowest month. That is one of Cape Town's driest months, with about 20 mm of rain against 140 mm in June.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most African Darter sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 11 cities where we can rate African Darter sightings, Cape Town ranks 2nd at about 30%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Dakar (Senegal, about 30%).
Same order: Suliformes
The closest relatives of the African Darter that you can see in Cape Town (order Suliformes, Gannets, Cormorants, and Allies) are Long-tailed Cormorant (about 30%), Great Cormorant (about 30%) and Cape Cormorant (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the African Darter is recorded against all the birds logged in Cape Town (1,071 verified sightings), 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.
