Parus niger
Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~60% in a week ~90%
The southern black tit or simply black tit (Melaniparus niger) is a species of bird in the tit family Paridae, which is native to woodland habitats in southern Africa. Three subspecies are recognized: Melaniparus niger niger – southernmost Mozambique to Eswatini, KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape
Melaniparus niger xanthostomus – southern Angola to northern Namibia, northern Botswana, northwestern Zimbabwe, southern Zambia and southern Tanzania Melaniparus niger ravidus – eastern Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, eastern Botswana and northern South Africa
It occurs chiefly in tropical and subtropical savanna woodland, in a semicircular arc from Angola to the Eastern Cape, South Africa. It prefers woodland dominated by broad-leaved trees, most importantly miombo, Combretum species, and Burkea africana. It is especially common in the woodlands of western Zimbabwe, where densities can reach as high as fifty birds per square kilometre.
The southern black tit, unlike parids of the Northern Hemisphere or other local species, is almost entirely monotone in colour and sexually somewhat dimorphic, with the female being greyish and the... Wikipedia →
Recording0:15
South Africa · 2025
© Errol Douwes · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
Recording0:15
South Africa · 2023
© Sascha Schumann · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
Recording0:11
South Africa · 2023
© Sunčana Bradley · iNaturalist · CC BY 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | uMkhuze Game Reserve | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | Kruger National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | Liwonde National Park | 🇲🇼 Malawi | |
| 4 | Kafue National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 5 | Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 6 | Hwange National Park | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 7 | Gonarezhou National Park | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 8 | Moremi Game Reserve | 🇧🇼 Botswana | |
| 9 | Pilanesberg National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 10 | Mana Pools National Park | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 11 | Chobe National Park | 🇧🇼 Botswana | |
| 12 | Gorongosa National Park | 🇲🇿 Mozambique | |
| 13 | Addo Elephant National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 14 | iSimangaliso Wetland Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 15 | South Luangwa National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Durban | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Southern Black Tit sighting in Liwonde National Park on a given day, based on 79 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 63rd most-seen of the 267 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 60%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September to December
In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Southern Black Tit in Liwonde National Park on a given day, against about 10% in March and August, the lowest months.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Southern Black Tit sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
3rd of 15
Of the 15 parks where we can rate Southern Black Tit sightings, Liwonde National Park ranks 3rd at about 30%. The best odds are in uMkhuze Game Reserve (South Africa, about 40%) and Kruger National Park (South Africa, about 30%). All parks ranked.
Same order: Passeriformes
The closest relatives of the Southern Black Tit that you can see in Liwonde National Park (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are Meves's Glossy-starling (about 80%), White-browed Sparrow-Weaver (about 80%) and Collared Palmthrush (about 70%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Southern Black Tit is recorded against all the birds logged in Liwonde National Park (79 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.
