Halcyon albiventris
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The brown-hooded kingfisher (Halcyon albiventris) is a species of bird in the subfamily Halcyoninae, the tree kingfishers. It has a brown head and blackish and turquoise wings. It is found in Sub-Saharan Africa, living in woodland, scrubland, forest edges, and also suburban areas. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has assessed it as being of least concern.
This species was described as Alcedo albiventris by Giovanni Antonio Scopoli in 1786. Subspecies hylophila and erlangeri have also been described, but they are not considered distinct enough. The brown-hooded kingfisher is about 22 cm (8.7 in) long. The head is brown, with blackish streaks. There is a broad buffy collar above the brownish-black mantle. The wing coverts are mostly brownish-black, and the secondary flight feathers are turquoise. The rump is azure-blue. The chin is white, the breast is tawny with some dark streaks, and the belly is buffy. The beak is red, tipped brown, the legs are carmine, and the eyes are dark brown. The female has dark... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Durban | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | Mombasa | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 3 | Maputo | 🇲🇿 Mozambique | |
| 4 | Dar es-Salaam | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 5 | Pretoria | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 6 | Harare | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 7 | Johannesburg | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Berlin Zoological Garden | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 2 | Aquarium Berlin | 🇩🇪 Germany |
Likely
About 50% of wildlife watchers report a Brown-hooded Kingfisher sighting in Lower Zambezi National Park on a given day, based on 170 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 32nd most-seen of the 241 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May and August
In those months about 60% of wildlife watchers report a Brown-hooded Kingfisher in Lower Zambezi National Park on a given day, against about 40% in January, April, July and September–October, the lowest months. Those are among Lower Zambezi National Park's driest months, with almost no rain against 290 mm in January. February and March have too few records to rate.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Brown-hooded Kingfisher sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 27 parks where we can rate Brown-hooded Kingfisher sightings, Lower Zambezi National Park ranks 4th at about 50%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in uMkhuze Game Reserve (South Africa, about 50%), Gonarezhou National Park (Zimbabwe, about 50%) and Mana Pools National Park (Zimbabwe, about 50%). All parks ranked.
Same genus: Halcyon
The closest relatives of the Brown-hooded Kingfisher that you can see in Lower Zambezi National Park (genus Halcyon, Typical Woodland Kingfishers) are Woodland Kingfisher (about 10%) and Gray-headed Kingfisher (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Brown-hooded Kingfisher is recorded against all the birds logged in Lower Zambezi National Park (170 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.
