Parus rufiventris
Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The rufous-bellied tit (Melaniparus rufiventris) is a species of bird in the tit family. It is found in Africa from the Republic of the Congo, DR Congo and northern Namibia east to Tanzania and northern Mozambique. The rufous-bellied tit was formally described in 1877 by the Portuguese zoologist José Vicente Barbosa du Bocage based on a specimen collected near the town of Caconda in central Angola. He placed it with the tits in the genus Parus and coined the binomial name Parus rufiventris. The specific epithet is Modern Latin meaning "red-bellied", from Latin rufus meaning "ruddy" or "rufous" and venter, ventris meaning "belly". The rufous-bellied tit is now one of 14 tits placed in the genus Melaniparus that was introduced in 1850 by the French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte.
Five subspecies are recognised: Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mikumi National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 2 | Kafue National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Rufous-bellied Tit sighting in Kafue National Park on a given day, based on 21 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 261st 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.
March and November
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Rufous-bellied Tit in Kafue National Park on a given day, against under 5% in April–October and December–February, the lowest months. Those are among Kafue National Park's wettest months, with about 110 mm of rain a month against almost none in June.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Rufous-bellied Tit sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
2nd of 2
Of the 2 parks where we can rate Rufous-bellied Tit sightings, Kafue National Park ranks 2nd at under 5%. The best odds are in Mikumi National Park (Tanzania, about 20%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Rufous-bellied Tit is recorded against all the birds logged in Kafue National Park (21 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.
