Hedydipna collaris
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~60% in a week ~90%
The collared sunbird (Hedydipna collaris) is a bird species of the family Nectariniidae. The sunbirds are a group of very small Old World passerine birds which feed largely on nectar, although they will also take insects, especially when feeding young. The collared sunbird is in fact mainly insectivorous.
Sunbird flight is fast and direct on their short wings. Most species can take nectar by hovering like a hummingbird, but usually perch to feed most of the time. The collared sunbird is a common breeder across most of sub-Saharan Africa. Two or three eggs are laid in a suspended nest in a tree. It is a seasonal bird migrant within its range.
Collared sunbirds are tiny, only 9–10 cm (3.5–3.9 in) long. They have short thin down-curved bills and brush-tipped tubular tongues, both adaptations to nectar feeding. The adult male has glossy green upperparts and head with a yellow belly and narrow purple breast band. The female is a duller green above and entirely yellow below.
This species inhabits forests near water. Birds of The Gambia by Barlow, Wacher and Disley, ISBN 1-873403-32-1 Collared sunbird - Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds. Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dar es-Salaam | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 2 | Nairobi | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 3 | Lusaka | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 4 | Kampala | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 5 | Durban | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 6 | Mombasa | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 7 | Abidjan | 🇨🇮 Côte d'Ivoire | |
| 8 | Zanzibar City | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 9 | Abuja | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | |
| 10 | Kigali | 🇷🇼 Rwanda |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Collared Sunbird sighting in Lusaka on a given day, based on 69 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 22nd most-seen of the 87 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 60%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May and August
In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Collared Sunbird in Lusaka on a given day, against about 10% in October and December–January, the lowest months. Those are among Lusaka's driest months, with almost no rain against 210 mm in January.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Collared Sunbird sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 12 cities where we can rate Collared Sunbird sightings, Lusaka ranks 3rd at about 30%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Dar es-Salaam (Tanzania, about 30%) and Nairobi (Kenya, about 30%).
Same family: Nectariniidae
The closest relatives of the Collared Sunbird that you can see in Lusaka (family Nectariniidae, Sunbirds and Spiderhunters) are Variable Sunbird (about 80%), Amethyst Sunbird (about 40%) and Scarlet-chested Sunbird (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Collared Sunbird is recorded against all the birds logged in Lusaka (69 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.
