Myrmecocichla nigra
Silhouette: Martin Bulla, based on François Desbordes' illustration · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~70% in a week ~90%
The sooty chat (Myrmecocichla nigra) is an African songbird of the chat subfamily. It is 15 to 16 cm (6 to 6.25 inches) long, stocky and relatively short-tailed for a chat. The adult male's plumage is glossy black except for white patches on the upper wings that are usually visible or only partly concealed (as in the photograph at upper right) when the bird is at rest. The female and young are very dark brown.
The song (in Kenya and northern Tanzania) is described as "prolonged, sweet and musical, sometimes given in flight, wee tewee tuweer, skwik-skueeeeer, cueee-eeeee-cuweeeeer, eee-euwee-tee, tseuwee-tew-skweeer-tsi-seet…." This species sometimes imitates other birds.
It occurs widely but discontinuously in African grasslands, from Senegal east to Kenya and south to Angola and Zambia. Its range is estimated at 3,400,000 km2, and it is considered "frequent" in at least parts of that area. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kidepo Valley National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 2 | Akagera National Park | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 3 | Masai Mara National Reserve | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 4 | Lake Mburo National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 5 | Queen Elizabeth National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 6 | Odzala-Kokoua National Park | 🇨🇬 Republic of the Congo | |
| 7 | Murchison Falls National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 8 | Virunga National Park | 🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of the Congo | |
| 9 | Kafue National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 10 | Serengeti National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 11 | Semuliki National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 12 | Nyungwe National Park | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 13 | Ngorongoro Conservation Area | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 14 | Kibale National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 15 | Bwindi Impenetrable National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kampala | 🇺🇬 Uganda |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Sooty Chat sighting in Lake Mburo National Park on a given day, based on 453 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 43rd most-seen of the 362 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 70%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June and July
In those months about 50% of wildlife watchers report a Sooty Chat in Lake Mburo National Park on a given day, against about 20% in January–February, May and October–November, the lowest months. Those are among Lake Mburo National Park's driest months, with about 20 mm of rain a month against 110 mm in November.
Between 6 and 9 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Sooty Chat sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
4th of 15
Of the 15 parks where we can rate Sooty Chat sightings, Lake Mburo National Park ranks 4th at about 30%. The best odds are in Kidepo Valley National Park (Uganda, about 60%), Akagera National Park (Rwanda, about 50%) and Masai Mara National Reserve (Kenya, about 40%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Muscicapidae
The closest relatives of the Sooty Chat that you can see in Lake Mburo National Park (family Muscicapidae, Old World Flycatchers, Robins, and Chats) are White-browed Robin-Chat (about 30%), White-browed Scrub Robin (about 20%) and Brown-backed Scrub Robin (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Sooty Chat is recorded against all the birds logged in Lake Mburo National Park (453 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.
