Dryoscopus cubla
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
The black-backed puffback (Dryoscopus cubla) is a species of passerine bird in the family Malaconotidae. They are common to fairly common sedentary bushshrikes in various wooded habitats in Africa south of the equator. They restlessly move about singly, in pairs or family groups, and generally frequent tree canopies. Like others of its genus, the males puff out the loose rump and lower back feathers in display, to assume a remarkable ball-like appearance. They draw attention to themselves by their varied repertoire of whistling, clicking and rasping sounds. Their specific name cubla, originated with Francois Levaillant, who derived it from a native southern African name, where the "c" is an onomatopoeic click sound. None of the other five puffback species occur in southern Africa.
They measure about 17 cm in length, and the sexes are similar though easily distinguishable. Adult males have the upperparts deep blue-black with a slight luster. The black cap subtends the red eye, the upperpart plumage is black-and-white, and the underparts pure white. Females have a black loral stripe and white supraloral feathering, with the ear coverts pale and the crown not solidly... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mombasa | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 2 | Zanzibar City | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 3 | Nairobi | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 4 | Lusaka | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 5 | Harare | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 6 | Dar es-Salaam | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 7 | Lilongwe | 🇲🇼 Malawi | |
| 8 | Pretoria | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 9 | Lubango | 🇦🇴 Angola | |
| 10 | Johannesburg | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Black-backed Puffback sighting in Etosha National Park on a given day, based on 155 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 110th most-seen of the 260 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.
April–May and July–January
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Black-backed Puffback in Etosha National Park on a given day, against under 5% in February–March and June, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Black-backed Puffback sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
30th of 36
Of the 36 parks where we can rate Black-backed Puffback sightings, Etosha National Park ranks 30th at about 10%. The best odds are in uMkhuze Game Reserve (South Africa, about 60%), Gonarezhou National Park (Zimbabwe, about 60%) and Gorongosa National Park (Mozambique, about 60%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Malaconotidae
The closest relatives of the Black-backed Puffback that you can see in Etosha National Park (family Malaconotidae, Bushshrikes and Allies) are Crimson-breasted Gonolek (about 40%), Brubru (about 10%) and Brown-crowned Tchagra (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Black-backed Puffback is recorded against all the birds logged in Etosha National Park (155 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.
