Uraeginthus angolensis
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
The blue waxbill (Uraeginthus angolensis), also called southern blue waxbill, blue-breasted waxbill, southern cordon-bleu, blue-cheeked cordon-bleu, blue-breasted cordon-bleu and Angola cordon-bleu, is a common species of estrildid finch found in Southern Africa. It is also relatively commonly kept as an aviary bird.
The blue waxbill was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Fringilla angolensis. Linnaeus based his description on the "Blue-Belly'd Finch" that had been described and illustrated in 1750 by the English naturalist George Edwards in his A Natural History of Uncommon Birds. Edwards had viewed a caged bird in London that had come from Angola. This species is now placed in the genus Uraeginthus that was introduced by the German ornithologist Jean Cabanis in 1851.
Three subspecies are recognized: The blue waxbill has powder-blue face, breast, rump, and flanks with pale brown upperparts. The female is paler than the male and the blue is confined to the rump, tail, head, and upper breast, with the rest of the underparts being buffy brown. They measure... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gonarezhou National Park | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 2 | uMkhuze Game Reserve | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | South Luangwa National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 4 | Mana Pools National Park | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 5 | Liwonde National Park | 🇲🇼 Malawi | |
| 6 | Kruger National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 7 | Lower Zambezi National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 8 | Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 9 | Kafue National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 10 | Mikumi National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 11 | Pilanesberg National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 12 | Gorongosa National Park | 🇲🇿 Mozambique | |
| 13 | Hwange National Park | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 14 | Chobe National Park | 🇧🇼 Botswana | |
| 15 | Moremi Game Reserve | 🇧🇼 Botswana | |
| 16 | Waterberg Plateau Park | 🇳🇦 Namibia | |
| 17 | Etosha National Park | 🇳🇦 Namibia | |
| 18 | Ruaha National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 19 | iSimangaliso Wetland Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 20 | Tarangire National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Harare | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 2 | Lusaka | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 3 | Brazzaville | 🇨🇬 Republic of the Congo | |
| 4 | Dar es-Salaam | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 5 | Lilongwe | 🇲🇼 Malawi | |
| 6 | Luanda | 🇦🇴 Angola | |
| 7 | Lubango | 🇦🇴 Angola | |
| 8 | Pretoria | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 9 | Maputo | 🇲🇿 Mozambique | |
| 10 | Johannesburg | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Blue-breasted Cordonbleu sighting in iSimangaliso Wetland Park on a given day, based on 24 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 269th most-seen of the 351 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Blue-breasted Cordonbleu in iSimangaliso Wetland Park on a given day, against under 5% in April to February, the lowest months. That is one of iSimangaliso Wetland Park's wettest months, with about 100 mm of rain against 30 mm in July.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Blue-breasted Cordonbleu sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
19th of 20
Of the 20 parks where we can rate Blue-breasted Cordonbleu sightings, iSimangaliso Wetland Park ranks 19th at under 5%. The best odds are in Gonarezhou National Park (Zimbabwe, about 70%), uMkhuze Game Reserve (South Africa, about 60%) and South Luangwa National Park (Zambia, about 60%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Estrildidae
The closest relatives of the Blue-breasted Cordonbleu that you can see in iSimangaliso Wetland Park (family Estrildidae, Waxbills and Allies) are Bronze Mannikin (about 10%), Black-tailed Grey Waxbill (about 10%) and Pink-throated Twinspot (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Blue-breasted Cordonbleu is recorded against all the birds logged in iSimangaliso Wetland Park (24 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.
