Hedydipna collaris
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~70% in a week ~90%
The collared sunbird (Hedydipna collaris) is a bird species of the family Nectariniidae. The sunbirds are a group of very small Old World passerine birds which feed largely on nectar, although they will also take insects, especially when feeding young. The collared sunbird is in fact mainly insectivorous.
Sunbird flight is fast and direct on their short wings. Most species can take nectar by hovering like a hummingbird, but usually perch to feed most of the time. The collared sunbird is a common breeder across most of sub-Saharan Africa. Two or three eggs are laid in a suspended nest in a tree. It is a seasonal bird migrant within its range.
Collared sunbirds are tiny, only 9–10 cm (3.5–3.9 in) long. They have short thin down-curved bills and brush-tipped tubular tongues, both adaptations to nectar feeding. The adult male has glossy green upperparts and head with a yellow belly and narrow purple breast band. The female is a duller green above and entirely yellow below.
This species inhabits forests near water. Birds of The Gambia by Barlow, Wacher and Disley, ISBN 1-873403-32-1 Collared sunbird - Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds. Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dar es-Salaam | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 2 | Nairobi | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 3 | Lusaka | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 4 | Kampala | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 5 | Durban | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 6 | Mombasa | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 7 | Abidjan | 🇨🇮 Côte d'Ivoire | |
| 8 | Zanzibar City | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 9 | Abuja | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | |
| 10 | Kigali | 🇷🇼 Rwanda |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Collared Sunbird sighting in Gorongosa National Park on a given day, based on 88 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 22nd most-seen of the 250 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 70%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July
In that month about 50% of wildlife watchers report a Collared Sunbird in Gorongosa National Park on a given day, against about 20% in June, September and November, the lowest months. That is one of Gorongosa National Park's driest months, with about 25 mm of rain against 210 mm in January. March and December–January have too few records to rate.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Collared Sunbird sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
5th of 43
Of the 43 parks where we can rate Collared Sunbird sightings, Gorongosa National Park ranks 5th at about 30%. The best odds are in iSimangaliso Wetland Park (South Africa, about 40%), Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (Uganda, about 40%) and Arusha National Park (Tanzania, about 40%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Nectariniidae
The closest relatives of the Collared Sunbird that you can see in Gorongosa National Park (family Nectariniidae, Sunbirds and Spiderhunters) are Variable Sunbird (about 10%), Purple-banded Sunbird (about 10%) and Scarlet-chested Sunbird (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Collared Sunbird is recorded against all the birds logged in Gorongosa National Park (88 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.
