Saxicola rubetra
Silhouette: Caroline Legg · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%
The whinchat (Saxicola rubetra) is a small migratory passerine bird breeding in Europe and western Asia and wintering in central Africa. At one time considered to be in the thrush family, Turdidae, it is now placed in the Old World flycatcher family, Muscicapidae. Both sexes have a strong supercilium, brownish upper parts mottled darker, a pale throat and breast, a pale buff to whitish belly, and a blackish tail with white bases to the outer tail feathers, but in the breeding season, the male has an orange-buff throat and breast.
The whinchat is a solitary species, favouring open grassy country with rough vegetation and scattered small shrubs. It perches in elevated locations ready to pounce on the insects and other small invertebrates that form its diet. The nest is built by the female on the ground in coarse vegetation, with a clutch of four to seven eggs being laid. The hen incubates the eggs for about thirteen days and then both parents feed the nestlings. Fledging takes place about eighteen days after hatching and the parents continue to feed the young for another fortnight. Moulting takes place in late summer before the migration southwards, and again on the wintering grounds in Africa before the migration northwards in spring. The whinchat is a common species with a wide range and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has classified it as being of "least concern". Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sincan | 🇹🇷 Turkey | |
| 2 | Bucharest | 🇷🇴 Romania | |
| 3 | Riyadh | 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia | |
| 4 | Yekaterinburg | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 5 | Istanbul | 🇹🇷 Turkey | |
| 6 | Manama | 🇧🇭 Bahrain | |
| 7 | Tel Aviv | 🇮🇱 Israel | |
| 8 | Saint Petersburg | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 9 | Ramallah | 🇵🇸 Palestine | |
| 10 | Beirut | 🇱🇧 Lebanon |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Whinchat sighting in Murchison Falls National Park on a given day, based on 233 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 113th most-seen of the 424 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 50%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.
December to March
In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Whinchat in Murchison Falls National Park on a given day, against under 5% in May to September, the lowest months. Those are among Murchison Falls National Park's driest months, with about 35 mm of rain a month against 190 mm in October.
Between 2 and 5 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Whinchat 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 43
Of the 43 parks where we can rate Whinchat sightings, Murchison Falls National Park ranks 8th at about 20%. The best odds are in Mercantour National Park (France, about 40%), Vanoise National Park (France, about 40%) and Kidepo Valley National Park (Uganda, about 30%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Muscicapidae
The closest relatives of the Whinchat that you can see in Murchison Falls National Park (family Muscicapidae, Old World Flycatchers, Robins, and Chats) are Silverbird (about 50%), Spotted Morning-Thrush (about 40%) and Sooty Chat (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Whinchat is recorded against all the birds logged in Murchison Falls National Park (233 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.
