Amblyospiza albifrons
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
The thick-billed weaver (Amblyospiza albifrons), or grosbeak weaver, is a distinctive and bold species of weaver bird that is native to the Afrotropics. It belongs to the monotypic genus Amblyospiza and subfamily Amblyospizinae.
They have particularly strong mandibles, which are employed to extricate the seeds in nutlets and drupes, and their songs are comparatively unmusical and harsh. Their colonial nests are readily distinguishable from those of other weavers, due to their form and placement, and the fine strands used in their construction.
They habitually fan and flick their tails. The generic name Amblyospiza was coined by Carl Jakob Sundevall in 1850 and means "blunt, finch", referencing the very large bill, while the specific name albifrons refers white forehead of the males. The thick-billed weaver was formally described as Pyrrhula albifrons in 1831 by the Irish zoologist and politician Nicholas Aylward Vigors from the collection of Henry Ellis, the specimens of which were attributed to Algoa Bay and environs in the Eastern Cape. Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mombasa | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 2 | Pretoria | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | Kigali | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 4 | Johannesburg | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 5 | Zanzibar City | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 6 | Yaoundé | 🇨🇲 Cameroon | |
| 7 | Durban | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 8 | Harare | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 9 | Nairobi | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 10 | Dar es-Salaam | 🇹🇿 Tanzania |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Grosbeak Weaver sighting in Mkomazi National Park on a given day, based on 11 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 207th most-seen of the 272 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.
January, March, September and November
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Grosbeak Weaver in Mkomazi National Park on a given day, against under 5% in February, April, June–August, October and December, the lowest months. May has too few records to rate.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Grosbeak Weaver sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
8th of 28
Of the 28 parks where we can rate Grosbeak Weaver sightings, Mkomazi National Park ranks 8th at about 10%. The best odds are in Kibale National Park (Uganda, about 40%), iSimangaliso Wetland Park (South Africa, about 30%) and Semuliki National Park (Uganda, about 30%).
Same family: Ploceidae
The closest relatives of the Grosbeak Weaver that you can see in Mkomazi National Park (family Ploceidae, Weavers and Allies) are Red-billed Buffalo-Weaver (about 40%), White-headed Buffalo-Weaver (about 30%) and Vitelline Masked-Weaver (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Grosbeak Weaver is recorded against all the birds logged in Mkomazi National Park (11 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.
