Cinnyris tsavoensis
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~60% in a week ~90%
The Tsavo sunbird (Cinnyris tsavoensis) is a small passerine bird of Kenya and Tanzania. It is sometimes lumped with the purple-banded sunbird. It is found in the Tsavo region of southeastern Kenya and nearby northern Tanzania, but not on the coast. It lives in arid scrub with Commiphora and Acacia trees and shrubs.
The Tsavo sunbird is 9.5 to 10 cm (3.75 to 4 inches) long. The bill is down-curved and rather short for a sunbird, especially compared to that of the otherwise similar Marico sunbird. The female is greyish-brown above and on the head with a white eyebrow stripe; the throat is either white or dusky with white edges (malar strips). The underparts are faintly yellow-tinged white with dusky stripes on the breast. The tail is bluish-black with grey edges and tip.
The juvenile male looks like the dark-throated form of the female. Later it develops a black throat and black wing coverts, both with green feathers intermixed, and often a wide black stripe down the belly. The adult male is apparently the same at all seasons: gleaming bluish-green above and on the head, with a black belly and lower breast. The upper breast may have a... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tsavo West National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 2 | Mkomazi National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 3 | Tsavo East National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Tsavo Sunbird sighting in Mkomazi National Park on a given day, based on 45 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 55th most-seen of the 272 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 60%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July
In that month about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Tsavo Sunbird in Mkomazi National Park on a given day, against about 20% in March–April, June, August, October and December, 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 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Tsavo Sunbird sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 3 parks where we can rate Tsavo Sunbird sightings, Mkomazi National Park ranks 2nd at about 30%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Tsavo West National Park (Kenya, about 30%).
Same genus: Cinnyris
The closest relatives of the Tsavo Sunbird that you can see in Mkomazi National Park (genus Cinnyris, Cinnyris Sunbirds) are Black-bellied Sunbird (about 40%), Variable Sunbird (about 20%) and Usambara Double-collared Sunbird (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Tsavo Sunbird is recorded against all the birds logged in Mkomazi National Park (45 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.
