Euplectes axillaris
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
The fan-tailed widowbird (Euplectes axillaris), also known as the red-shouldered widowbird, is a species of bird in the family Ploceidae, which is native to grassy and swampy areas of the tropical and subtropical Afrotropics.
It is found in Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, DRC, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
(Fan-tailed widowbird = ) Red-shouldered widowbird - Species text in The Atlas of Southern African... Wikipedia →
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Fan-tailed Widowbird sighting in Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park on a given day, based on 69 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 67th most-seen of the 220 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
December
In that month about 50% of wildlife watchers report a Fan-tailed Widowbird in Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park on a given day, against under 5% in June and September, the lowest months. That is one of Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park's wettest months, with about 110 mm of rain against 15 mm in June.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Fan-tailed Widowbird sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 24 parks where we can rate Fan-tailed Widowbird sightings, Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park ranks 3rd at about 20%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Ngorongoro Conservation Area (Tanzania, about 20%) and iSimangaliso Wetland Park (South Africa, about 20%).
Same genus: Euplectes
The closest relatives of the Fan-tailed Widowbird that you can see in Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park (genus Euplectes, Bishops and Widowbirds) are Red-collared Widowbird (about 20%), White-winged Widowbird (about 10%) and Red Bishop (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Fan-tailed Widowbird is recorded against all the birds logged in Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park (69 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.
