Corvinella corvina
Silhouette: PhyloPic
In 3 days >90%
The yellow-billed shrike (Corvinella corvina) is a large passerine bird in the shrike family. It is sometimes known as the long-tailed shrike, but this invites confusion with the long-tailed shrike, Lanius schach, of tropical southern Asia. It is the only species placed in the genus Corvinella. The yellow-billed shrike is a common resident breeding bird in tropical Africa from Senegal eastwards to Uganda and locally in westernmost Kenya. It frequents forest and other habitats with trees.
The yellow-billed shrike was formally described in 1809 as Lanius corvinus by the English naturalist George Shaw. The specific epithet is from Latin meaning "raven-like". Shaw based his account on "La Grande-pie-grieche" that had been described and illustrated in 1799 by the French naturalist François Levaillant. Levaillant had acquired a preserved specimen from a dealer and did not know its origin. In 1831 the French naturalist René Lesson introduced the genus Corvinella to accommodate the yellow-billed shrike and also designated the type location as Senegal. Based on the results of molecular genetic studies, this species has sometimes been placed in the genus Lanius, but the phylogenetic... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kidepo Valley National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 2 | Niokolo-Koba National Park | 🇸🇳 Senegal |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Accra | 🇬🇭 Ghana | |
| 2 | Ouagadougou | 🇧🇫 Burkina Faso | |
| 3 | Abuja | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | |
| 4 | Serrekunda | 🇬🇲 Gambia | |
| 5 | Lomé | 🇹🇬 Togo | |
| 6 | Cotonou | 🇧🇯 Benin |
Very likely
About 70% of wildlife watchers report a Yellow-billed Shrike sighting in Kidepo Valley National Park on a given day, based on 308 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 6th most-seen of the 332 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
December
In that month about 80% of wildlife watchers report a Yellow-billed Shrike in Kidepo Valley National Park on a given day, against about 60% in February and September–November, the lowest months. That is one of Kidepo Valley National Park's driest months, with about 20 mm of rain against 130 mm in July. 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 Yellow-billed Shrike 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 2 parks where we can rate Yellow-billed Shrike sightings, Kidepo Valley National Park has the highest daily chance: about 70%. Next come Niokolo-Koba National Park (Senegal, about 30%).
Same family: Laniidae
The closest relatives of the Yellow-billed Shrike that you can see in Kidepo Valley National Park (family Laniidae, Shrikes) are Grey-backed Fiscal (about 50%), Northern White-crowned Shrike (about 40%) and Woodchat Shrike (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Yellow-billed Shrike is recorded against all the birds logged in Kidepo Valley National Park (308 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.
