Promerops cafer
Silhouette: Campbell Fleming · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The Cape sugarbird (Promerops cafer) is one of the eight bird species endemic to the Fynbos biome of the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. The Cape sugarbird was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. He placed it with the bee-eaters in the genus Merops and coined the binomial name Merops cafer. Linnaeus specified the type locality as Ethiopia but this was changed to the Cape of Good Hope by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760. The Cape sugarbird is now placed in the genus Promerops that was introduced for the species by Brisson in 1760. The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.
The Cape sugarbird is a grey-brown bird that is easily recognisable by a spot of yellow under its tail and the very long tail feathers present in males. The male is 34–44 cm long, and the shorter-tailed, shorter-billed, and paler breasted female 25–29 cm long. Another characteristic of the Cape sugarbird is the sound it makes when it flies. The main flight feathers are arranged in such a way that when the bird beats its wings, a frrt-frrt sound is made... 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 | |
| 4 | West Coast National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cape Town | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Cape Sugarbird sighting in Garden Route National Park on a given day, based on 118 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 156th most-seen of the 222 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January, March and May–June
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Cape Sugarbird in Garden Route National Park on a given day, against under 5% in February, April and July–December, the lowest months.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Cape Sugarbird sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
3rd of 4
Of the 4 parks where we can rate Cape Sugarbird sightings, Garden Route National Park ranks 3rd at under 5%. The best odds are in Table Mountain National Park (South Africa, about 30%) and De Hoop Nature Reserve (South Africa, about 20%).
Same order: Passeriformes
The closest relatives of the Cape Sugarbird that you can see in Garden Route National Park (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are Cape White-eye (about 70%), Fork-tailed Drongo (about 60%) and Sombre Greenbul (about 60%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Cape Sugarbird is recorded against all the birds logged in Garden Route National Park (118 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.
