Halcyon senegalensis
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~80% in a week >90%
The woodland kingfisher (Halcyon senegalensis) is a tree kingfisher that is widely distributed in Africa south of the Sahara. The Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus included the woodland kingfisher with the binomial name Alcedo senegalensis in the twelfth edition of his Systema Naturae which was published in 1766. Linnaeus based his formal description on "Le Grand Martin-Pescher du Sénégal" that the French naturalist Mathurin Jacques Brisson had described and illustrated in 1760. The current genus Halcyon was introduced by the English naturalist and artist William Swainson in 1821, with the woodland kingfisher as the type species.
Three subspecies are recognised: This is a medium-sized kingfisher, 23 cm (9.1 in) in length. The adult has a bright blue back, wing panel and tail. Its head, neck and underparts are white, and its shoulders are black. The flight of the woodland kingfisher... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brazzaville | 🇨🇬 Republic of the Congo | |
| 2 | Kampala | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 3 | Accra | 🇬🇭 Ghana | |
| 4 | Yaoundé | 🇨🇲 Cameroon | |
| 5 | Abidjan | 🇨🇮 Côte d'Ivoire | |
| 6 | Monrovia | 🇱🇷 Liberia | |
| 7 | Bujumbura | 🇧🇮 Burundi | |
| 8 | Lagos | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | |
| 9 | Maiduguri | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | |
| 10 | Serrekunda | 🇬🇲 Gambia |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Valencia Bioparc | 🇪🇸 Spain |
Likely
About 40% of wildlife watchers report a Woodland Kingfisher sighting in Monrovia on a given day, based on 84 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 6th most-seen of the 59 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.
August and September
In those months about 50% of wildlife watchers report a Woodland Kingfisher in Monrovia on a given day, against about 30% in July, the lowest month. Those are among Monrovia's wettest months, with about 330 mm of rain a month against 10 mm in January. March to May have too few records to rate.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Woodland 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.
6th of 17
Of the 17 cities where we can rate Woodland Kingfisher sightings, Monrovia ranks 6th at about 40%. The best odds are in Brazzaville (Republic of the Congo, about 80%), Kampala (Uganda, about 70%) and Accra (Ghana, about 70%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Woodland Kingfisher is recorded against all the birds logged in Monrovia (84 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.
