Ashy Tit

Ashy Tit

Parus cinerascens

Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic

Daily sighting probability <5% · Rare
at Johannesburg

In 3 days <5%

7 Verified sightings at Johannesburg
171 In all 5 parks From 2019 to 2026
April Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Ashy Tit

The ashy tit (Melaniparus cinerascens) is a species of bird in the family Paridae. It is found in Angola, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests and dry savanna.

The ashy tit was formerly one of the many species in the genus Parus but was moved to Melaniparus after a molecular phylogenetic analysis published in 2013 showed that the members of the new genus formed a distinct clade.

Ashy tit - Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds. Wikipedia →

Sounds

Recording0:52

Namibia · 2026

© le0p0ld_d · iNaturalist · CC BY 4.0

Recording0:14

Botswana · 2022

© Dewald du Plessis · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park 🇿🇦 South Africa
~10%
2 Namib-Naukluft National Park 🇳🇦 Namibia
~10%
3 Waterberg Plateau Park 🇳🇦 Namibia
~10%
4 Etosha National Park 🇳🇦 Namibia
<5%
5 Pilanesberg National Park 🇿🇦 South Africa
<5%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Johannesburg 🇿🇦 South Africa
<5%

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing an Ashy Tit in Johannesburg?

Rare

Under 5% of wildlife watchers report an Ashy Tit sighting in Johannesburg on a given day, based on 7 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 200th most-seen of the 219 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see an Ashy Tit in Johannesburg?

Any time of year

In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report an Ashy Tit in Johannesburg on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.

What time of day is best to see an Ashy Tit?

Between 8 and 11 am

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Ashy Tit sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.

Where else can you see an Ashy Tit?

Only Johannesburg, in our data

Johannesburg is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Ashy Tit sightings: under 5% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.

Which relatives of the Ashy Tit live in Johannesburg?

Same order: Passeriformes

The closest relatives of the Ashy Tit that you can see in Johannesburg (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are Southern Masked Weaver (about 80%), Common Bulbul (about 80%) and Cape Sparrow (about 80%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.

Where does the Ashy Tit sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Ashy Tit is recorded against all the birds logged in Johannesburg (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.

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