Ptilostomus afer
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
The piapiac (Ptilostomus afer) is an African bird in the crow family, and is the only member of the genus Ptilostomus. It is most closely related to the Central Asian ground jays. In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the piapiac in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected in Senegal. He used the French name La pie du Sénégal and the Latin Pica Senegalensis. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson. One of these was the piapiac. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Corvus afer and cited Brisson's work. The specific name afer is Latin for "Africa". The piapiac is the only species placed in the genus Ptilostomus that was introduced by the English naturalist William Swainson in 1837. The species is monotypic.
A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2005 found that the piapiac from Africa was most closely related... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Murchison Falls National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 2 | Kidepo Valley National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 3 | Niokolo-Koba National Park | 🇸🇳 Senegal | |
| 4 | Queen Elizabeth National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 5 | Semuliki National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Walsrode World Bird Park | 🇩🇪 Germany |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Piapiac sighting in Cotonou on a given day, based on 7 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 17th most-seen of the 28 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Piapiac sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
5th of 7
Of the 7 cities where we can rate Piapiac sightings, Cotonou ranks 5th at about 10%. The best odds are in Serrekunda (Gambia, about 40%), Abuja (Nigeria, about 20%) and Lagos (Nigeria, about 20%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Piapiac is recorded against all the birds logged in Cotonou (7 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.
