Emberiza flaviventris
Silhouette: L. Shyamal · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The golden-breasted bunting (Emberiza flaviventris) is a passerine bird in the bunting family Emberizidae. It occurs in dry open woodlands and moist savanna in Africa south of the Sahara, but is absent from the equatorial forest belt.
The genus name Emberiza is from Old German Embritz, a bunting. The specific flaviventris is from Latin flavus - "yellow", "golden-yellow"; and venter, ventris - "belly". The origin of the English "bunting" is unknown. There are three subspecies:
Emberiza flaviventris flaviventris, the nominate subspecies, occurs from the Cape to southern South Sudan Emberiza flaviventris flavigaster occurs along a narrow belt across the Sahel, and its range is discontinuous with respect to the other subspecies
Emberiza flaviventris princeps occurs in southern Angola and Namibia. The golden-breasted bunting is 15–16 cm long. The adult male has striking head pattern with a white crown, black lateral crown stripes, white supercilium and black-bordered white ear coverts. The underparts are orange-yellow becoming yellow on the throat and whitish on the lower belly. The upperparts are chestnut with a grey rump... Wikipedia →
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Diego Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Golden-breasted Bunting sighting in Kafue National Park on a given day, based on 17 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 273rd most-seen of the 338 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
October and December
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Golden-breasted Bunting in Kafue National Park on a given day, against under 5% in January–September and November, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Golden-breasted Bunting sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
29th of 36
Of the 36 parks where we can rate Golden-breasted Bunting sightings, Kafue National Park ranks 29th at under 5%. The best odds are in uMkhuze Game Reserve (South Africa, about 50%), Gonarezhou National Park (Zimbabwe, about 40%) and Waterberg Plateau Park (Namibia, about 30%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Golden-breasted Bunting is recorded against all the birds logged in Kafue National Park (17 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.
