Cinnyris bifasciatus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~30%
The purple-banded sunbird (Cinnyris bifasciatus) is a species of bird in the family Nectariniidae. It is found in Angola, Botswana, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Eswatini, Gabon, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
The Tsavo sunbird, sometimes lumped with the purple-banded, is here considered a separate species. Purple-banded sunbird - Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | uMkhuze Game Reserve | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | iSimangaliso Wetland Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | Gorongosa National Park | 🇲🇿 Mozambique | |
| 4 | Lake Mburo National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 5 | Lower Zambezi National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 6 | Kibale National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 7 | Kafue National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 8 | Mana Pools National Park | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 9 | Queen Elizabeth National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 10 | Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 11 | Virunga National Park | 🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of the Congo | |
| 12 | Mikumi National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 13 | Murchison Falls National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 14 | Masai Mara National Reserve | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 15 | Chobe National Park | 🇧🇼 Botswana | |
| 16 | Akagera National Park | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 17 | Kruger National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 18 | Bwindi Impenetrable National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 19 | Nyungwe National Park | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 20 | Serengeti National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zanzibar City | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 2 | Dar es-Salaam | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 3 | Luanda | 🇦🇴 Angola | |
| 4 | Durban | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 5 | Mombasa | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 6 | Lusaka | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 7 | Kampala | 🇺🇬 Uganda |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Purple-banded Sunbird sighting in Mana Pools National Park on a given day, based on 25 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 195th most-seen of the 275 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June–August and November–December
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Purple-banded Sunbird in Mana Pools National Park on a given day, against under 5% in January–February, April–May and September–October, the lowest months. Those are among Mana Pools National Park's driest months, with about 40 mm of rain a month against 290 mm in January. March has too few records to rate.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Purple-banded Sunbird sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
8th of 20
Of the 20 parks where we can rate Purple-banded Sunbird sightings, Mana Pools National Park ranks 8th at about 10%. The best odds are in uMkhuze Game Reserve (South Africa, about 40%), iSimangaliso Wetland Park (South Africa, about 40%) and Gorongosa National Park (Mozambique, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Purple-banded Sunbird is recorded against all the birds logged in Mana Pools National Park (25 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.
