Cisticola eximius
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The black-backed cisticola or black-necked cisticola (Cisticola eximius) is a species of passerine bird in the family Cisticolidae. It is found in Burkina Faso, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, and Uganda.
Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry lowland grassland and subtropical or tropical seasonally wet or flooded lowland grassland. The black-backed cisticola was described by the German explorer and ornithologist Theodor von Heuglin in 1869 from a specimen collected near the Bahr el Ghazal River in South Sudan. He coined the binomial name Drymoeca eximia. The specific epithet eximius is the Latin for "select" or "distinguished". The species is now placed in the genus Cisticola which was erected by the German naturalist Johann Jakob Kaup in 1829.
Three subspecies are recognised: Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kidepo Valley National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 2 | Masai Mara National Reserve | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 3 | Serengeti National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Black-necked Cisticola sighting in Kidepo Valley National Park on a given day, based on 18 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 222nd most-seen of the 332 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July, September and December
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Black-necked Cisticola in Kidepo Valley National Park on a given day, against under 5% in January–March, June, August and October–November, the lowest months. April and May have too few records to rate.
Between 3 and 6 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Black-necked Cisticola sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 3 parks where we can rate Black-necked Cisticola sightings, Kidepo Valley National Park has the highest daily chance: under 5%. Next come Masai Mara National Reserve (Kenya, under 5%) and Serengeti National Park (Tanzania, under 5%).
Same genus: Cisticola
The closest relatives of the Black-necked Cisticola that you can see in Kidepo Valley National Park (genus Cisticola, Cisticolas) are Croaking Cisticola (about 50%), Rattling Cisticola (about 50%) and Foxy Cisticola (about 40%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Black-necked Cisticola is recorded against all the birds logged in Kidepo Valley National Park (18 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.
