Anthobaphes violacea
Silhouette: PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
The orange-breasted sunbird (Anthobaphes violacea) is a species of small, predominantly nectar-feeding bird that is endemic to the fynbos shrubland biome of southwestern South Africa. It is the only member of the genus Anthobaphes, in the family Nectariniidae (the sunbirds and spiderhunters), though it is sometimes placed in the genus Nectarinia. The birds are sexually dimorphic, with females being olive green while the males are orange to yellow on the underside with bright green, blue and purple on the head and neck.
In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the orange-breasted sunbird in his Ornithologie, based on a specimen collected from the Cape of Good Hope. He used the French name Le petit grimpereau a longue queue du Cap de Bonne Espérance and the Latin Certhia Longicauda Minor Capitis Bonae Spei. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Table Mountain National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | De Hoop Nature Reserve | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | Garden Route National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cape Town | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report an Orange-breasted Sunbird sighting in De Hoop Nature Reserve on a given day, based on 63 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 118th most-seen of the 189 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March, May and August
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report an Orange-breasted Sunbird in De Hoop Nature Reserve on a given day, against under 5% in November to February, the lowest months. June has too few records to rate.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Orange-breasted Sunbird sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
2nd of 3
Of the 3 parks where we can rate Orange-breasted Sunbird sightings, De Hoop Nature Reserve ranks 2nd at about 10%. The best odds are in Table Mountain National Park (South Africa, about 20%).
Same family: Nectariniidae
The closest relatives of the Orange-breasted Sunbird that you can see in De Hoop Nature Reserve (family Nectariniidae, Sunbirds and Spiderhunters) are Southern Double-collared Sunbird (about 30%), Malachite Sunbird (about 20%) and Greater Double-collared Sunbird (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Orange-breasted Sunbird is recorded against all the birds logged in De Hoop Nature Reserve (63 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.
