Amadina fasciata
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~30%
The cut-throat finch (Amadina fasciata) is a common species of estrildid finch found throughout Africa; it is also known as the bearded finch, the ribbon finch, the cut throat, and the weaver finch. The cut-throat finch was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the crossbills in the genus Loxia and coined the binomial name Loxia fasciata. The specific epithet is from Late Latin faciatus meaning "banded". Gmelin based his account on the "fasciated grossbeak" that had been described and illustrated in 1776 by the English naturalist Peter Brown. Neither Brown nor Gmelin specified a locality but in 1805 the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot designated Senegal. The cut-throat finch is now placed with the red-headed finch in the genus Amadina that was introduced in 1827 by the English naturalist William Swainson.
Four subspecies are recognised: Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Samburu National Reserve | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 2 | Tsavo East National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 3 | Awash National Park | 🇪🇹 Ethiopia | |
| 4 | Mkomazi National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 5 | Tsavo West National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 6 | Meru National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 7 | Mana Pools National Park | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 8 | Hwange National Park | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 9 | Tarangire National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 10 | Amboseli National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 11 | Liwonde National Park | 🇲🇼 Malawi | |
| 12 | Kidepo Valley National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 13 | Ruaha National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 14 | Serengeti National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 15 | Mikumi National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 16 | Lower Zambezi National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 17 | Ngorongoro Conservation Area | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 18 | Kruger National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 19 | Nairobi National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 20 | Lake Nakuru National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 21 | Chobe National Park | 🇧🇼 Botswana |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pretoria | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | Mombasa | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 3 | Johannesburg | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zoopark Limpopo | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 2 | National Aviary | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Cut-throat sighting in Hwange National Park on a given day, based on 25 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 180th most-seen of the 308 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February–March, May–June, October and December
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Cut-throat in Hwange National Park on a given day, against under 5% in January, April, July–September and November, the lowest months.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Cut-throat sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
8th of 21
Of the 21 parks where we can rate Cut-throat sightings, Hwange National Park ranks 8th at about 10%. The best odds are in Samburu National Reserve (Kenya, about 30%), Tsavo East National Park (Kenya, about 30%) and Awash National Park (Ethiopia, about 20%).
Same family: Estrildidae
The closest relatives of the Cut-throat that you can see in Hwange National Park (family Estrildidae, Waxbills and Allies) are Blue-breasted Cordonbleu (about 30%), Violet-eared Waxbill (about 10%) and Jameson's Firefinch (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Cut-throat is recorded against all the birds logged in Hwange National Park (25 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.
