Cisticola brunnescens
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5%
The pectoral-patch cisticola (Cisticola brunnescens) is a species of bird in the family Cisticolidae. It is native to the Adamawa Massif, Gabon, the Congo and highlands of East Africa. Its natural habitats are damp or wet areas in upland grassland.
At 9–10 cm this is a small, streak-backed cisticola with short or medium tail, which may get longer in the breeding season. It differs from the pale-crowned cisticola in having a pale rufous (not buff) crown and forehead in the breeding season. The pectoral patches become darker in the breeding season, but even then they may not be easy to see.
The voice is stonechat-like in quality with harsh tssk tssk or szisk szisk notes given in display flight. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nairobi National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 2 | Masai Mara National Reserve | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 3 | Lake Nakuru National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 4 | Ngorongoro Conservation Area | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 5 | Serengeti National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 6 | Bale Mountains National Park | 🇪🇹 Ethiopia | |
| 7 | Amboseli National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 8 | Tarangire National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nairobi | 🇰🇪 Kenya |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Pectoral-patch Cisticola sighting in Nairobi on a given day, based on 5 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 224th most-seen of the 234 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Pectoral-patch Cisticola in Nairobi on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Pectoral-patch Cisticola sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Nairobi, in our data
Nairobi is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Pectoral-patch Cisticola sightings: under 5% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same genus: Cisticola
The closest relatives of the Pectoral-patch Cisticola that you can see in Nairobi (genus Cisticola, Cisticolas) are Singing Cisticola (about 30%), Red-faced Cisticola (about 20%) and Winding Cisticola (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Pectoral-patch Cisticola is recorded against all the birds logged in Nairobi (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.
