Tmetothylacus tenellus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The golden pipit (Tmetothylacus tenellus) is a distinctive pipit of dry country grassland, savanna and shrubland in eastern Africa. It is native to Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda, and has occurred as a vagrant to Oman, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
The adult male, unlike most pipits, is very easy to identify. It is yellow below and yellow in the wings. From the front the yellow throat and breast with the dark band does resemble the yellow-throated longclaw or Pangani longclaw, but neither have yellow wings (very obvious in flight) and both have a black line in the face. The female golden pipit is a fairly typical brown pipit but has a yellow underside to the wing.
It is gold in colour. Videos, photos and sounds - Internet Bird Collection Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tsavo East National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 2 | Samburu National Reserve | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 3 | Tsavo West National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 4 | Meru National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 5 | Mkomazi National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 6 | Amboseli National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Golden Pipit sighting in Mkomazi National Park on a given day, based on 9 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 232nd most-seen of the 272 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Golden Pipit in Mkomazi National Park on a given day, against under 5% in January–April, June and August–November, the lowest months. That is one of Mkomazi National Park's driest months, with about 5 mm of rain against 150 mm in December. May has too few records to rate.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Golden Pipit sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
5th of 6
Of the 6 parks where we can rate Golden Pipit sightings, Mkomazi National Park ranks 5th at under 5%. The best odds are in Tsavo East National Park (Kenya, about 40%), Samburu National Reserve (Kenya, about 30%) and Tsavo West National Park (Kenya, about 20%).
Same family: Motacillidae
The closest relatives of the Golden Pipit that you can see in Mkomazi National Park (family Motacillidae, Wagtails and Pipits) are Pangani Longclaw (about 20%) and African Pied Wagtail (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Golden Pipit is recorded against all the birds logged in Mkomazi National Park (9 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.
