Centropus senegalensis
Silhouette: Nicolas Huet le Jeune and Jean-Gabriel Prêtre (vectorized by T. Michael Keesey) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
The Senegal coucal (Centropus senegalensis) is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, the Cuculiformes, which also includes the roadrunners and the anis. It is a medium-sized member of its genus and is found in lightly-wooded country and savannah in central and southern Africa.
In 1760, the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description and an illustration of the Senegal coucal in the fourth volume of his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected in Senegal. He used the French name Le coucou de Sénégal and the Latin name Cuculus Senegalensis. 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 in his Ornithologie. One of these was the Senegal coucal. Linnaeus included a terse description, coined the binomial name Cuculus senegalensis and cited Brisson's work. The Senegal coucal is now one of around 30 species placed in the genus Centropus that was introduced in 1811 by the... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Niokolo-Koba National Park | 🇸🇳 Senegal | |
| 2 | Kafue National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 3 | Odzala-Kokoua National Park | 🇨🇬 Republic of the Congo | |
| 4 | Hwange National Park | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 5 | Ruaha National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 6 | Kidepo Valley National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 7 | Moremi Game Reserve | 🇧🇼 Botswana | |
| 8 | Murchison Falls National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 9 | Mana Pools National Park | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 10 | Lower Zambezi National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 11 | Liwonde National Park | 🇲🇼 Malawi | |
| 12 | South Luangwa National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 13 | Taï National Park | 🇨🇮 Ivory Coast | |
| 14 | Chobe National Park | 🇧🇼 Botswana | |
| 15 | Gonarezhou National Park | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 16 | Virunga National Park | 🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of the Congo | |
| 17 | Gorongosa National Park | 🇲🇿 Mozambique | |
| 18 | Queen Elizabeth National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 19 | Etosha National Park | 🇳🇦 Namibia | |
| 20 | Kibale National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 21 | Semuliki National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 22 | Bwindi Impenetrable National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 23 | Kruger National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ouagadougou | 🇧🇫 Burkina Faso | |
| 2 | Accra | 🇬🇭 Ghana | |
| 3 | Maiduguri | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | |
| 4 | Serrekunda | 🇬🇲 Gambia | |
| 5 | Abuja | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | |
| 6 | N'Djamena | 🇹🇩 Chad | |
| 7 | Yaoundé | 🇨🇲 Cameroon | |
| 8 | Abidjan | 🇨🇮 Côte d'Ivoire | |
| 9 | Lomé | 🇹🇬 Togo | |
| 10 | Dakar | 🇸🇳 Senegal |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Senegal Coucal sighting in Gonarezhou National Park on a given day, based on 10 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 187th most-seen of the 233 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Senegal Coucal in Gonarezhou National Park on a given day, against under 5% in May and September–October, the lowest months. That is one of Gonarezhou National Park's wettest months, with about 150 mm of rain against almost none in July. March–April, June and December–January have too few records to rate.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Senegal Coucal sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
15th of 23
Of the 23 parks where we can rate Senegal Coucal sightings, Gonarezhou National Park ranks 15th at about 10%. The best odds are in Niokolo-Koba National Park (Senegal, about 70%), Kafue National Park (Zambia, about 20%) and Odzala-Kokoua National Park (Republic of the Congo, about 20%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Senegal Coucal is recorded against all the birds logged in Gonarezhou National Park (10 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.
