Cinnyris afer
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
The greater double-collared sunbird (Cinnyris afer) is a small bird in the sunbird family. It was formerly placed in genus Nectarinia. The sunbird breeds in southern, eastern and northeastern South Africa and Eswatini. It is mainly resident, but partly migratory in the northeast of its range. It is common in gardens, fynbos, forest edges and coastal scrub.
This sunbird is 14 cm long and exhibits a clear sexual dimorphism. The adult male has a glossy, metallic green head, throat upper breast and back. It has a broad brilliant red band across the chest, separated from the green breast by a narrow metallic blue band. The rest of the underparts are pale grey. When displaying, yellow feather tufts can be seen on the shoulders. The plumage on the female is pale grey, darker in the wings. As with other sunbirds the bill is long and decurved. The bill, legs and feet are black. The eye is dark brown. The male can be distinguished from the similar lesser double-collared sunbird by the latter's smaller size, narrower red chest band and shorter bill. The call is a hard chut-chut-chut, and the song is a high pitched jumble of tweets and twitters... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Garden Route National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | Addo Elephant National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | Golden Gate Highlands National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 4 | De Hoop Nature Reserve | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 5 | Kruger National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Durban | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | Johannesburg | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Birds of Eden | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Greater Double-collared Sunbird sighting in De Hoop Nature Reserve on a given day, based on 36 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 122nd most-seen of the 189 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Greater Double-collared Sunbird in De Hoop Nature Reserve on a given day, against under 5% in January–March and November, the lowest months. June has too few records to rate.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Greater Double-collared Sunbird sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
4th of 5
Of the 5 parks where we can rate Greater Double-collared Sunbird sightings, De Hoop Nature Reserve ranks 4th at about 10%. The best odds are in Garden Route National Park (South Africa, about 50%), Addo Elephant National Park (South Africa, about 40%) and Golden Gate Highlands National Park (South Africa, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Greater Double-collared Sunbird is recorded against all the birds logged in De Hoop Nature Reserve (36 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
