Cinnyris pulchellus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
The beautiful sunbird (Cinnyris pulchellus), formerly placed in the genus Nectarinia, is a small passerine bird in the sunbird family Nectariniidae. It is native to tropical Africa, its range extending from Senegal and Guinea in the west to Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Kenya in the east. It was formerly considered to be conspecific with the gorgeous sunbird (Cinnyris melanogastrus).
The beautiful sunbird was formally described in 1766 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the twelfth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Certhia pulchella. Linnaeus based his account on "Le grimpereau à longue queue du Sénégal" that had been described and illustrated in 1760 by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson. The specific epithet is from Latin pulchellum meaning "very pretty" or "beautiful little". Formerly placed in the genus Nectarinia, the beautiful sunbird is now one of 64 sunbirds placed in the genus Cinnyris that was introduced in 1816 by the French naturalist Georges Cuvier. It was previously considered to be conspecific with the gorgeous sunbird (Cinnyris melanogastrus) but the species were split based on the differences in morphology... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Niokolo-Koba National Park | 🇸🇳 Senegal | |
| 2 | Awash National Park | 🇪🇹 Ethiopia | |
| 3 | Ruaha National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 4 | Amboseli National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 5 | Serengeti National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 6 | Tarangire National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 7 | Ngorongoro Conservation Area | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 8 | Murchison Falls National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 9 | Lake Manyara National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 10 | Mkomazi National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 11 | Kidepo Valley National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 12 | Tsavo West National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 13 | Arusha National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 14 | Nairobi National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 15 | Masai Mara National Reserve | 🇰🇪 Kenya |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ouagadougou | 🇧🇫 Burkina Faso | |
| 2 | Serrekunda | 🇬🇲 Gambia | |
| 3 | Maiduguri | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | |
| 4 | N'Djamena | 🇹🇩 Chad | |
| 5 | Dakar | 🇸🇳 Senegal | |
| 6 | Kampala | 🇺🇬 Uganda |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bronx Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Beautiful Sunbird sighting in Dakar on a given day, based on 34 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 82nd most-seen of the 152 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.
February
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Beautiful Sunbird in Dakar on a given day, against under 5% in September, the lowest month. That is one of Dakar's driest months, with about 10 mm of rain against 190 mm in August.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Beautiful Sunbird 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 6
Of the 6 cities where we can rate Beautiful Sunbird sightings, Dakar ranks 5th at about 10%. The best odds are in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso, about 80%), Serrekunda (Gambia, about 70%) and Maiduguri (Nigeria, about 50%).
Same genus: Cinnyris
The closest relatives of the Beautiful Sunbird that you can see in Dakar (genus Cinnyris, Cinnyris Sunbirds) are Variable Sunbird (about 20%) and Splendid Sunbird (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Beautiful Sunbird is recorded against all the birds logged in Dakar (34 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.
