Halcyon chelicuti
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~70% in a week ~90%
The striped kingfisher (Halcyon chelicuti) is a species of bird in the tree kingfisher subfamily. It was first described by Edward, Lord Stanley, in Salt's Voyage to Abyssinia in 1814 as "Chelicut kingfisher" Alaudo Chelicuti.
The genus name Halcyon comes from a bird in Greek legend generally associated with the kingfisher. There was an ancient belief that the halcyon nested on the sea, which it calmed in order to lay its eggs on a floating nest. The species' name chelicuti derives from Chelicut in Ethiopia, the location at which Stanley's type specimen was obtained.
This is a highly territorial bird which will chase off not only others of the same species, but also shrikes, doves and rollers. The territory may be up to three hectares (7.4 acres) in size, and hold 100 tall trees. It is surveyed from a treetop by its owner, who sings from before dawn intermittently until after midday.
The holotype of Alaudo chelicuti Stanley (Salt's Voyage to Abyssinia, 1814, App. IV. p.lvi. (=56)) is held in the vertebrate zoology collection of National Museums Liverpool at World Museum, with accession number NML-VZ D2304b. The specimen was collected in Abyssinia = Ethiopia in 1809/10... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mombasa | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 2 | Dar es-Salaam | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 3 | Maputo | 🇲🇿 Mozambique | |
| 4 | Serrekunda | 🇬🇲 Gambia | |
| 5 | Accra | 🇬🇭 Ghana | |
| 6 | Kigali | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 7 | Harare | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 8 | Kampala | 🇺🇬 Uganda |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Striped Kingfisher sighting in Mikumi National Park on a given day, based on 69 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 30th most-seen of the 261 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 70%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
October and November
In those months about 50% of wildlife watchers report a Striped Kingfisher in Mikumi National Park on a given day, against about 20% in January–February, May and July–August, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Striped 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.
3rd of 37
Of the 37 parks where we can rate Striped Kingfisher sightings, Mikumi National Park ranks 3rd at about 30%. The best odds are in Lake Mburo National Park (Uganda, about 50%) and uMkhuze Game Reserve (South Africa, about 30%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Striped Kingfisher is recorded against all the birds logged in Mikumi National Park (69 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.
