Lanius collaris
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days >90%
The southern fiscal or fiscal shrike (Lanius collaris) is a member of the shrike family found through most of southern Africa. It is also sometimes named jackie hangman or butcher bird due to its habit of impaling its prey on acacia thorns to store the food for later consumption. It was previously lumped together with the northern fiscal (Lanius humeralis). Together they were known as the common fiscal.
In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the southern fiscal in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected from the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. He used the French name La pie-griesche du Cap de Bonne Espérance and the Latin Lanius 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. One of these was the southern fiscal. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the current binomial name Lanius collaris and cited Brisson... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | De Hoop Nature Reserve | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | West Coast National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | Addo Elephant National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 4 | Golden Gate Highlands National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 5 | Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 6 | Namib-Naukluft National Park | 🇳🇦 Namibia | |
| 7 | Garden Route National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 8 | Table Mountain National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 9 | Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 10 | uMkhuze Game Reserve | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 11 | iSimangaliso Wetland Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 12 | Etosha National Park | 🇳🇦 Namibia | |
| 13 | Pilanesberg National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 14 | Mikumi National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 15 | Kruger National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 16 | Chobe National Park | 🇧🇼 Botswana |
Very likely
About 70% of wildlife watchers report a Southern Fiscal sighting in De Hoop Nature Reserve on a given day, based on 425 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 2nd most-seen of the 189 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
October
In that month about 90% of wildlife watchers report a Southern Fiscal in De Hoop Nature Reserve on a given day, against about 60% in September, the lowest month. 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 Southern Fiscal sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 16 parks where we can rate Southern Fiscal sightings, De Hoop Nature Reserve has the highest daily chance: about 70%. Next come West Coast National Park (South Africa, about 60%) and Addo Elephant National Park (South Africa, about 60%). All parks ranked.
Same order: Passeriformes
The closest relatives of the Southern Fiscal that you can see in De Hoop Nature Reserve (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are Cape Bulbul (about 70%), Bokmakierie (about 70%) and Cape Wagtail (about 60%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Southern Fiscal is recorded against all the birds logged in De Hoop Nature Reserve (425 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.
