Cecropis cucullata
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The greater striped swallow (Cecropis cucullata) is a large swallow that is native to Africa south of the equator. The greater striped swallow was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1780 in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux from a specimen collected in the Cape of Good Hope district of South Africa. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text. Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial name Hirundo cucullata in his catalogue of the Planches Enluminées. The greater striped swallow is now one of nine species that are placed in the genus Cecropis that was introduced by the German zoologist Friedrich Boie in 1826. The species is monotypic and no subspecies are recognised. The name of the genus is from the Ancient Greek Kekropis "Athenian woman". The specific epithet cucullata is from the Late Latin cucullatus meaning "hooded". Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | De Hoop Nature Reserve | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | Golden Gate Highlands National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | Garden Route National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 4 | Addo Elephant National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 5 | Pilanesberg National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 6 | Etosha National Park | 🇳🇦 Namibia | |
| 7 | Table Mountain National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 8 | Waterberg Plateau Park | 🇳🇦 Namibia | |
| 9 | Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 10 | uMkhuze Game Reserve | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 11 | Namib-Naukluft National Park | 🇳🇦 Namibia | |
| 12 | West Coast National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 13 | Kruger National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 14 | Chobe National Park | 🇧🇼 Botswana | |
| 15 | iSimangaliso Wetland Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 16 | Moremi Game Reserve | 🇧🇼 Botswana |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Johannesburg | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | Pretoria | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | Cape Town | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 4 | Harare | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Greater Striped-Swallow sighting in Harare on a given day, based on 19 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 135th most-seen of the 213 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.
March and December–January
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Greater Striped-Swallow in Harare on a given day, against under 5% in February and April–November, the lowest months. Those are among Harare's wettest months, with about 160 mm of rain a month against almost none in August.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Greater Striped-Swallow sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
4th of 4
Of the 4 cities where we can rate Greater Striped-Swallow sightings, Harare ranks 4th at under 5%. The best odds are in Johannesburg (South Africa, about 20%), Pretoria (South Africa, about 10%) and Cape Town (South Africa, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Greater Striped-Swallow is recorded against all the birds logged in Harare (19 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.
