Telacanthura ussheri
Silhouette: Aviceda (vectorized by T. Michael Keesey) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~30%
The mottled spinetail (Telacanthura ussheri) is a species of swift in the family Apodidae. It is found in Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
The mottled spinetail was formally described in 1870 by the English ornithologist Richard Bowdler Sharpe based on a specimen collected near Fort Victoria, Cape Coast, in present-day Ghana, by the British colonial administrator Herbert Taylor Ussher. Ussher would later become Governor of the Gold Coast. Sharpe coined the binomial name Chaetura ussheri where the specific epithet was named after the collector. The mottled spinetail is now placed together with the black spinetail in the genus Telacanthura that was introduced in 1918 by the Australian-born ornithologist Gregory Mathews.
Four subspecies are recognised: Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tarangire National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 2 | Niokolo-Koba National Park | 🇸🇳 Senegal | |
| 3 | Mana Pools National Park | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 4 | Ruaha National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 5 | Lower Zambezi National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 6 | Gonarezhou National Park | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 7 | Kibale National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 8 | Arusha National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 9 | Kruger National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lagos | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | |
| 2 | Accra | 🇬🇭 Ghana | |
| 3 | Serrekunda | 🇬🇲 Gambia |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Mottled Spinetail sighting in Lagos on a given day, based on 5 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 66th most-seen of the 72 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January–March and July
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Mottled Spinetail in Lagos on a given day, against under 5% in April–May, October and December, the lowest months. June, August–September and November have too few records to rate.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Mottled Spinetail 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 3 cities where we can rate Mottled Spinetail sightings, Lagos has the highest daily chance: about 10%. Next come Accra (Ghana, under 5%) and Serrekunda (Gambia, under 5%).
Same family: Apodidae
The closest relatives of the Mottled Spinetail that you can see in Lagos (family Apodidae, Swifts) are Little Swift (about 30%) and African Palm-Swift (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Mottled Spinetail is recorded against all the birds logged in Lagos (5 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.
