Camaroptera brachyura
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
The green-backed camaroptera (Camaroptera brachyura), also known as the bleating camaroptera, is a small bird in the family Cisticolidae. This bird is a resident breeder in Africa south of the Sahara Desert. Recent studies suggest this species and the grey-backed camaroptera may be the same species.
This skulking passerine is typically found low in dense cover. The green-backed camaroptera binds large leaves together low in a bush and builds a grass nest within the leaves. The normal clutch is two or three eggs. These 11.5 cm long warblers have green upperparts. The wings are olive and the underparts whitish grey. The sexes are similar, but juveniles are paler yellow on the breast.
Like most members in the group, green-backed camaroptera is insectivorous. The green-backed camaroptera was described by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1821 under the binomial name Sylvia brachyura. The type locality is the Cape of Good Hope. The specific epithet brachyura is from the Ancient Greek brakhus for "short" and -ouros for "-tailed".
There are five subspecies: Camaroptera brachyura pileata Reichenow, 1891 – southeast Kenya to southeast Tanzania Camaroptera brachyura fugglescouchmani Moreau, 1939 – northeast Zambia, north Malawi and east Tanzania Camaroptera brachyura bororensis Gunning & Roberts, 1911 – south Tanzania, south Malawi and north Mozambique
Camaroptera brachyura constans Clancey, 1952 – southeast Zimbabwe, south Mozambique and northeast South Africa Camaroptera brachyura brachyura (Vieillot, 1821) – south and east South Africa
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ouagadougou | 🇧🇫 Burkina Faso | |
| 2 | Mombasa | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 3 | Kampala | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 4 | Abuja | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | |
| 5 | Zanzibar City | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 6 | Yaoundé | 🇨🇲 Cameroon | |
| 7 | Nairobi | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 8 | Maiduguri | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | |
| 9 | Serrekunda | 🇬🇲 Gambia | |
| 10 | Dar es-Salaam | 🇹🇿 Tanzania |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Green-backed Camaroptera sighting in Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary on a given day, based on 13 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 138th most-seen of the 173 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.
January
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Green-backed Camaroptera in Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary on a given day, against under 5% in February to April, the lowest months. That is one of Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary's driest months, with almost no rain against 55 mm in August. May to October have too few records to rate.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Green-backed Camaroptera sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
48th of 53
Of the 53 parks where we can rate Green-backed Camaroptera sightings, Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary ranks 48th at about 10%. The best odds are in Waterberg Plateau Park (Namibia, about 70%), Gonarezhou National Park (Zimbabwe, about 50%) and iSimangaliso Wetland Park (South Africa, about 50%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Cisticolidae
The closest relatives of the Green-backed Camaroptera that you can see in Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary (family Cisticolidae, Cisticolas and Allies) are River Prinia (about 40%), Winding Cisticola (about 20%) and Zitting Cisticola (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Green-backed Camaroptera is recorded against all the birds logged in Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary (13 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.
