Halcyon leucocephala
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days >90%
The grey-headed kingfisher (Halcyon leucocephala) is a species of bird in the kingfisher family, Alcedinidae. It is found across large parts of Africa and southern Arabia, from Mauritania through Senegal and the Gambia, east to Ethiopia, Somalia, Yemen, Oman and Saudi Arabia, and south all the way through to South Africa. It is also found in islands off the African coast such as the Cape Verde islands and Zanzibar.
The first formal description of the grey-headed kingfisher was by the German zoologist Philipp Ludwig Statius Müller in 1776. He coined the binomial name Alcedo leucocephala. The current genus Halcyon was introduced by the English naturalist and artist William Swainson in 1821. The name of the genus is from the classical Greek alkuōn, a mythical bird, generally associated with the kingfisher. The specific epithet leucocephala is from the classical Greek leukos meaning "white" and -kephalos for "-headed".
Five subspecies are recognised: Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dar es-Salaam | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 2 | Mombasa | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 3 | Dakar | 🇸🇳 Senegal | |
| 4 | Maiduguri | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | |
| 5 | Abuja | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | |
| 6 | Abidjan | 🇨🇮 Côte d'Ivoire | |
| 7 | Monrovia | 🇱🇷 Liberia | |
| 8 | Nairobi | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 9 | Kampala | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 10 | Serrekunda | 🇬🇲 Gambia |
Very likely
About 70% of wildlife watchers report a Gray-headed Kingfisher sighting in Meru National Park on a given day, based on 146 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 7th most-seen of the 243 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
November
In that month about 90% of wildlife watchers report a Gray-headed Kingfisher in Meru National Park on a given day, against about 60% in March, June and September, the lowest months. That is one of Meru National Park's wettest months, with about 200 mm of rain against almost none in July. May and July–August have too few records to rate.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Gray-headed Kingfisher sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 38 parks where we can rate Gray-headed Kingfisher sightings, Meru National Park has the highest daily chance: about 70%. Next come Murchison Falls National Park (Uganda, about 60%) and Samburu National Reserve (Kenya, about 50%). All parks ranked.
Same genus: Halcyon
The closest relatives of the Gray-headed Kingfisher that you can see in Meru National Park (genus Halcyon, Typical Woodland Kingfishers) are Striped Kingfisher (about 30%) and Brown-hooded Kingfisher (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Gray-headed Kingfisher is recorded against all the birds logged in Meru National Park (146 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.
