Circaetus cinereus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
The brown snake eagle (Circaetus cinereus) is a fairly large species of bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. It is found in West, East and southern Africa. This species is an almost obligate predator of a variety of snakes. A very solitary bird, the brown snake eagle has a prolonged breeding cycle and raises a single eaglet. Although probably naturally scarce, it is classified as a least concern species as it continues to occur over a very broad range.
This species is distributed widely in Africa. In west Africa, ranges from southeastern Mauritania, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, eastern and western Guinea, Sierra Leone, the northern, inland parts of Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria as well as inland in Mali and Niger. From there they range across to southern Chad, southern Sudan, South Sudan, inland in Eritrea and northern Ethiopia and central Ethiopia and in southern Somalia through much of Kenya, Uganda and the southern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo down through southern Africa to about half of Namibia, all of Botswana and Zimbabwe and northeastern and eastern South Africa. Although it is not migratory, brown... Wikipedia →
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | National Zoological Garden of South Africa | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | Dullstroom Bird Of Prey & Rehabilitation Centre | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Brown Snake Eagle sighting in Masai Mara National Reserve on a given day, based on 386 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 107th most-seen of the 398 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May, September and November
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Brown Snake Eagle in Masai Mara National Reserve on a given day, against about 10% in June–August, October and December–April, the lowest months.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Brown Snake Eagle sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
23rd of 42
Of the 42 parks where we can rate Brown Snake Eagle sightings, Masai Mara National Reserve ranks 23rd at about 10%. The best odds are in Gonarezhou National Park (Zimbabwe, about 30%), Tarangire National Park (Tanzania, about 30%) and Kruger National Park (South Africa, about 30%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Brown Snake Eagle is recorded against all the birds logged in Masai Mara National Reserve (386 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.
