Halcyon albiventris
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~80% in a week >90%
The brown-hooded kingfisher (Halcyon albiventris) is a species of bird in the subfamily Halcyoninae, the tree kingfishers. It has a brown head and blackish and turquoise wings. It is found in Sub-Saharan Africa, living in woodland, scrubland, forest edges, and also suburban areas. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has assessed it as being of least concern.
This species was described as Alcedo albiventris by Giovanni Antonio Scopoli in 1786. Subspecies hylophila and erlangeri have also been described, but they are not considered distinct enough. The brown-hooded kingfisher is about 22 cm (8.7 in) long. The head is brown, with blackish streaks. There is a broad buffy collar above the brownish-black mantle. The wing coverts are mostly brownish-black, and the secondary flight feathers are turquoise. The rump is azure-blue. The chin is white, the breast is tawny with some dark streaks, and the belly is buffy. The beak is red, tipped brown, the legs are carmine, and the eyes are dark brown. The female has dark... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Durban | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | Mombasa | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 3 | Maputo | 🇲🇿 Mozambique | |
| 4 | Dar es-Salaam | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 5 | Pretoria | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 6 | Harare | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 7 | Johannesburg | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Berlin Zoological Garden | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 2 | Aquarium Berlin | 🇩🇪 Germany |
Likely
About 50% of wildlife watchers report a Brown-hooded Kingfisher sighting in Durban on a given day, based on 499 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 14th most-seen of the 219 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 80%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June to August
In those months about 60% of wildlife watchers report a Brown-hooded Kingfisher in Durban on a given day, against about 30% in February, October and December, the lowest months. Those are among Durban's driest months, with about 35 mm of rain a month against 210 mm in January.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Brown-hooded Kingfisher 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 7 cities where we can rate Brown-hooded Kingfisher sightings, Durban has the highest daily chance: about 50%. Next come Mombasa (Kenya, about 40%) and Maputo (Mozambique, about 30%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Brown-hooded Kingfisher is recorded against all the birds logged in Durban (499 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.
