Turdoides jardineii
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10%
The arrow-marked babbler (Turdoides jardineii) is a species of bird in the family Leiothrichidae. It is native to woodlands in the southern Afrotropics. It is found in Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Republic of the Congo, DRC, Eswatini, Gabon, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forest, dry savanna, and subtropical or tropical moist shrubland. The arrow-marked babbler is a medium-sized babbler, 22 to 25 cm (8.7–9.8 in) in length and weighing 56 to 85 g (2.0–3.0 oz). The common name for the species is derived from its plumage, which is brownish-grey above and lighter below, with white tips to the feathers on the throat, neck and head. The outer iris is bright red and the inner bright yellow or orange. Males and females are identical in appearance. Juveniles have brown eyes and less arrow-shaped streaking on the breast.
The arrow-marked babbler lives in social groups of between 3 and 15 birds (six being the average) that defend large territories, with the size of the territory being dependent upon the number of... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Harare | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 2 | Pretoria | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | Kigali | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 4 | Johannesburg | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report an Arrow-marked Babbler sighting in Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park on a given day, based on 8 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 195th most-seen of the 220 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report an Arrow-marked Babbler in Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park on a given day, against under 5% in September to July, the lowest months. That is one of Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park's driest months, with about 25 mm of rain against 140 mm in February.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Arrow-marked Babbler sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
28th of 30
Of the 30 parks where we can rate Arrow-marked Babbler sightings, Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park ranks 28th at under 5%. The best odds are in Gonarezhou National Park (Zimbabwe, about 60%), Hwange National Park (Zimbabwe, about 40%) and Kruger National Park (South Africa, about 40%). All parks ranked.
Same order: Passeriformes
The closest relatives of the Arrow-marked Babbler that you can see in Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are Common Bulbul (about 70%), Fork-tailed Drongo (about 70%) and Red-shouldered Glossy-starling (about 70%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Arrow-marked Babbler is recorded against all the birds logged in Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park (8 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.
