Pytilia melba
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
The green-winged pytilia (Pytilia melba) is a small colourful seed-eating bird in the family Estrildidae. It is widespread throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, though it is more rarely seen in central, far southern and coastal western parts of the continent.
The green-winged pytilia was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Fringilla melba. No explanation was provided for the specific epithet melba but it could possibly be from a supposed Chinese word or place. Linnaeus based his description on "The Green Gold-Finch" that had been described and illustrated in 1750 by the English naturalist George Edwards in his A Natural History of Uncommon Birds. Edwards was uncertain of the origin of his specimen and Linnaeus mistakenly specified the locality as China. The specimen was subsequently assumed to be from Angola, but this was restricted to Luanda in Angola by Phillip Clancey in 1962.
The green-winged pytilia is now placed in the genus Pytilia that was introduced in 1837 by the English naturalist William Swainson for the red-winged pytilia. Eight subspecies are recognised: P. m.... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kigali | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 2 | Harare | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 3 | Dar es-Salaam | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 4 | Lusaka | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 5 | Pretoria | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Green-winged Pytilia sighting in Etosha National Park on a given day, based on 182 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 103rd 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 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April and October
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Green-winged Pytilia in Etosha National Park on a given day, against about 10% in May–September and November–March, the lowest months. Those are among Etosha National Park's driest months, with about 10 mm of rain a month against 75 mm in January.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Green-winged Pytilia sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
19th of 36
Of the 36 parks where we can rate Green-winged Pytilia sightings, Etosha National Park ranks 19th at about 10%. The best odds are in Ruaha National Park (Tanzania, about 50%), Waterberg Plateau Park (Namibia, about 40%) and Gonarezhou National Park (Zimbabwe, about 40%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Estrildidae
The closest relatives of the Green-winged Pytilia that you can see in Etosha National Park (family Estrildidae, Waxbills and Allies) are Red-headed Finch (about 40%), Blue-breasted Cordonbleu (about 20%) and Violet-eared Waxbill (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Green-winged Pytilia is recorded against all the birds logged in Etosha National Park (182 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.
