Schoenicola brevirostris
Silhouette: Afsarnayakkan · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
The fan-tailed grassbird or broad-tailed warbler (Catriscus brevirostris) is an African species of Old World warbler in the family Locustellidae. The species is closely related to the broad-tailed grassbird of India, and is sometimes treated as the same species, although a 2018 study found that it and the broad-tailed grassbird were not closely related, with the Indian species being a sister of Chaetornis striata.
The species has a discontinuous distribution across Africa, and is found in Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Guinea, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. It is found in grassy areas dominated by grasses, sedges or shrubs near water (streams, rivers or lakes), from 350–2,150 m (1,150–7,050 ft).
Fan-tailed grassbird - Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Queen Elizabeth National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 2 | Kidepo Valley National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 3 | Gorongosa National Park | 🇲🇿 Mozambique | |
| 4 | Masai Mara National Reserve | 🇰🇪 Kenya |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Fan-tailed Grassbird sighting in Masai Mara National Reserve on a given day, based on 42 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 281st most-seen of the 398 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April and May
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Fan-tailed Grassbird in Masai Mara National Reserve on a given day, against under 5% in June to March, the lowest months. Those are among Masai Mara National Reserve's wettest months, with about 100 mm of rain a month against 15 mm in July.
Between 6 and 9 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Fan-tailed Grassbird sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 4 parks where we can rate Fan-tailed Grassbird sightings, Masai Mara National Reserve ranks 4th at under 5%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Queen Elizabeth National Park (Uganda, under 5%), Kidepo Valley National Park (Uganda, under 5%) and Gorongosa National Park (Mozambique, under 5%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Fan-tailed Grassbird is recorded against all the birds logged in Masai Mara National Reserve (42 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.
