Oenanthe pileata
Silhouette: PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The capped wheatear (Oenanthe pileata) is a small insectivorous passerine bird that is widely distributed over southern Africa. It was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, but is now placed in the Old World flycatcher family, Muscicapidae.
The capped wheatear was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the wagtails in the genus Motacilla and coined the binomial name Motacilla pileata. The specific epithet is from Latin pileatus meaning "-capped". Gmelin based his account on the "Black-hooded wheat-ear" that had been described in 1783 by the English ornithologist John Latham in his multi-volume work A General Synopsis of Birds. Latham's specimen had been collected near the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. The capped wheatear is now placed in the genus Oenanthe that was introduced in 1816 by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot.
Three subspecies are recognised: Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | De Hoop Nature Reserve | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | Ngorongoro Conservation Area | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 3 | Pilanesberg National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 4 | Serengeti National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 5 | Etosha National Park | 🇳🇦 Namibia | |
| 6 | Hwange National Park | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 7 | Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 8 | Mikumi National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 9 | Kafue National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 10 | West Coast National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 11 | Tsavo East National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 12 | Amboseli National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 13 | Addo Elephant National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 14 | Masai Mara National Reserve | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 15 | Chobe National Park | 🇧🇼 Botswana | |
| 16 | Nairobi National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 17 | Tsavo West National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 18 | Moremi Game Reserve | 🇧🇼 Botswana | |
| 19 | iSimangaliso Wetland Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 20 | Tarangire National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 21 | Lake Nakuru National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 22 | Kruger National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Johannesburg | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Capped Wheatear sighting in Masai Mara National Reserve on a given day, based on 99 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 229th most-seen of the 398 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April and December–February
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Capped Wheatear in Masai Mara National Reserve on a given day, against under 5% in March and May–November, the lowest months.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Capped Wheatear sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
14th of 22
Of the 22 parks where we can rate Capped Wheatear sightings, Masai Mara National Reserve ranks 14th at under 5%. The best odds are in De Hoop Nature Reserve (South Africa, about 60%), Ngorongoro Conservation Area (Tanzania, about 30%) and Pilanesberg National Park (South Africa, about 10%).
Same genus: Oenanthe
The closest relatives of the Capped Wheatear that you can see in Masai Mara National Reserve (genus Oenanthe, Wheatears and Allies) are Northern Wheatear (about 10%) and Isabelline Wheatear (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Capped Wheatear is recorded against all the birds logged in Masai Mara National Reserve (99 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.
