Sylvietta rufescens
Silhouette: PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The long-billed crombec or Cape crombec (Sylvietta rufescens) is an African warbler. The long-billed crombec breeds in southern Africa from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia and Tanzania southwards to South Africa.
This is a common species in fynbos, open woodland, savannah and dry Acacia scrub. The long-billed crombec is a small, nearly tailless bird 12 cm long and weighing around 16 g. Its upperparts are brownish grey-brown, and there is a pale grey supercilium, separated from the whitish throat by a dark eye stripe. The whitish breast shades into the buff belly. The long slightly curved bill is blackish.
The sexes are similar, and the juvenile resembles the adult. The call is a variable series of trilled notes including trreee-rriiit trreee-rriiit and a harsh pttt. The long-billed crombec's nest is a large, hanging bag of grasses, spider webs, and plant fibres, which is attached to the lower limbs of a tree, often an Acacia. The one to three white eggs are incubated for two weeks to hatching, and the chicks are fed by both parents for another two weeks to fledging. This territorial species is monogamous, pairing for life.
This bird is... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | uMkhuze Game Reserve | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | Kruger National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | Gonarezhou National Park | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 4 | Lower Zambezi National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 5 | Waterberg Plateau Park | 🇳🇦 Namibia | |
| 6 | Mana Pools National Park | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 7 | Kafue National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 8 | Etosha National Park | 🇳🇦 Namibia | |
| 9 | Liwonde National Park | 🇲🇼 Malawi | |
| 10 | West Coast National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 11 | Pilanesberg National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 12 | Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 13 | Moremi Game Reserve | 🇧🇼 Botswana | |
| 14 | South Luangwa National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 15 | Hwange National Park | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 16 | Gorongosa National Park | 🇲🇿 Mozambique | |
| 17 | Chobe National Park | 🇧🇼 Botswana | |
| 18 | Namib-Naukluft National Park | 🇳🇦 Namibia | |
| 19 | iSimangaliso Wetland Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 20 | De Hoop Nature Reserve | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 21 | Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 22 | Addo Elephant National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Cape Crombec sighting in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park on a given day, based on 14 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 106th most-seen of the 122 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
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Cape Crombec in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park on a given day, against under 5% in June–September and November–April, the lowest months. That is one of Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park's driest months, with about 5 mm of rain against 40 mm in January. May has too few records to rate.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Cape Crombec sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
21st of 22
Of the 22 parks where we can rate Cape Crombec sightings, Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park ranks 21st at under 5%. The best odds are in uMkhuze Game Reserve (South Africa, about 40%), Kruger National Park (South Africa, about 30%) and Gonarezhou National Park (Zimbabwe, about 30%). All parks ranked.
Same order: Passeriformes
The closest relatives of the Cape Crombec that you can see in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are Fork-tailed Drongo (about 80%), White-browed Sparrow-Weaver (about 70%) and Social Weaver (about 70%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Cape Crombec is recorded against all the birds logged in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (14 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.
