Rhinopomastus cyanomelas
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The common scimitarbill (Rhinopomastus cyanomelas) is a species of bird in the family Phoeniculidae. It is found in Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Adults weigh roughly 35 grams and 26 cm in length. As adults, their beaks are black but as juveniles, their beaks are grey. Females and juveniles are more brown on the front of their body. They feed almost entirely on insects behind the bark of a tree, which is the reason for their probing beak.
(Scimitarbilled woodhoopoe=) Common scimitarbill – Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds. Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Johannesburg | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Common Scimitarbill sighting in Lake Manyara National Park on a given day, based on 20 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 185th most-seen of the 307 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.
April–July and December–January
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Common Scimitarbill in Lake Manyara National Park on a given day, against under 5% in February–March and August–November, the lowest months.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Common Scimitarbill sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
24th of 35
Of the 35 parks where we can rate Common Scimitarbill sightings, Lake Manyara National Park ranks 24th at under 5%. The best odds are in uMkhuze Game Reserve (South Africa, about 40%), Gonarezhou National Park (Zimbabwe, about 40%) and Liwonde National Park (Malawi, about 20%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Common Scimitarbill is recorded against all the birds logged in Lake Manyara National Park (20 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.
