Histurgops ruficauda
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
The rufous-tailed weaver (Histurgops ruficauda) is a species of songbird found in Tanzania. It is included in the weaver family (Ploceidae), but many authors included it in the Old World sparrow family Passeridae when Old World sparrows were separated from the weavers proper. It is placed in the monotypic genus Histurgops.
It is an endemic breeder in Tanzania, but vagrants occur in Kenya too. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tarangire National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 2 | Ngorongoro Conservation Area | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 3 | Serengeti National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 4 | Masai Mara National Reserve | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 5 | Lake Manyara National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Rufous-tailed Weaver sighting in Masai Mara National Reserve on a given day, based on 241 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 160th most-seen of the 398 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July to April
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Rufous-tailed Weaver in Masai Mara National Reserve on a given day, against under 5% in May and June, the lowest months.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Rufous-tailed Weaver sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
4th of 5
Of the 5 parks where we can rate Rufous-tailed Weaver sightings, Masai Mara National Reserve ranks 4th at about 10%. The best odds are in Tarangire National Park (Tanzania, about 40%), Ngorongoro Conservation Area (Tanzania, about 40%) and Serengeti National Park (Tanzania, about 40%).
Same family: Passeridae
The closest relatives of the Rufous-tailed Weaver that you can see in Masai Mara National Reserve (family Passeridae, Old World Sparrows) are Gray-headed Social-Weaver (about 20%), Yellow-spotted Petronia (about 10%) and Northern Grey-headed Sparrow (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Rufous-tailed Weaver is recorded against all the birds logged in Masai Mara National Reserve (241 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.
