Passer diffusus
Silhouette: Andrew Butko (modified) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The southern grey-headed sparrow (Passer diffusus) is a passerine bird of the sparrow family Passeridae. It is sometimes treated as a subspecies of the grey-headed sparrow. It is found in savanna and woodland in Angola and Zambia southwards into South Africa, where it is expanding its range and is kept as a caged bird, like its relative the white-rumped seedeater.
Media related to Passer diffusus at Wikimedia Commons Southern Grey-headed Sparrow at the Internet Bird Collection Southern Grey-headed Sparrow species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds Southern grey-headed sparrow Structured guide to the species in southern Africa Wikipedia →
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Southern Gray-headed Sparrow sighting in Cape Town on a given day, based on 98 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 124th most-seen of the 196 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
November
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Southern Gray-headed Sparrow in Cape Town on a given day, against under 5% in December to October, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Southern Gray-headed Sparrow sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
8th of 8
Of the 8 cities where we can rate Southern Gray-headed Sparrow sightings, Cape Town ranks 8th at under 5%. The best odds are in Harare (Zimbabwe, about 50%), Pretoria (South Africa, about 40%) and Johannesburg (South Africa, about 20%).
Same genus: Passer
The closest relatives of the Southern Gray-headed Sparrow that you can see in Cape Town (genus Passer, True Sparrows) are Cape Sparrow (about 70%) and House Sparrow (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Southern Gray-headed Sparrow is recorded against all the birds logged in Cape Town (98 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.
