Prinia subflava
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~80% in a week >90%
The tawny-flanked prinia (Prinia subflava) is a small passerine bird belonging to the genus Prinia in the family Cisticolidae, a family of Old World warblers. It is widespread and common in most parts of Africa south of the Sahara. The plain prinia (P. inornata) of southern Asia was formerly included in this species but is now usually considered to be a separate species.
The tawny-flanked prinia was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the wagtails in the genus Motacilla and coined the binomial name Motacilla subflava. The specific epithet combines the Latin sub meaning "beneath" or "somewhat" with flavus meaning "yellow". Gmelin based his account on a hand coloured engraving by François-Nicolas Martinet that was published to accompany the Comte de Buffon's multi-volume work, the Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux. The tawny-flanked prinia is now one of 30 species placed in the genus Prinia that was introduced by the American naturalist Thomas Horsfield in 1821.
Ten subspecies are recognised: Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brazzaville | 🇨🇬 Republic of the Congo | |
| 2 | Mombasa | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 3 | Yaoundé | 🇨🇲 Cameroon | |
| 4 | Maputo | 🇲🇿 Mozambique | |
| 5 | Dar es-Salaam | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 6 | Pretoria | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 7 | Addis Ababa | 🇪🇹 Ethiopia | |
| 8 | Johannesburg | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 9 | Durban | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 10 | Harare | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe |
Likely
About 40% of wildlife watchers report a Tawny-flanked Prinia sighting in Nairobi National Park on a given day, based on 745 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 51st most-seen of the 371 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 80%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May–June and September–October
In those months about 50% of wildlife watchers report a Tawny-flanked Prinia in Nairobi National Park on a given day, against about 30% in January, July and November, the lowest months.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Tawny-flanked Prinia sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 45 parks where we can rate Tawny-flanked Prinia sightings, Nairobi National Park has the highest daily chance: about 40%. Next come Kruger National Park (South Africa, about 40%) and uMkhuze Game Reserve (South Africa, about 30%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Cisticolidae
The closest relatives of the Tawny-flanked Prinia that you can see in Nairobi National Park (family Cisticolidae, Cisticolas and Allies) are Winding Cisticola (about 50%), Yellow-breasted Apalis (about 40%) and Green-backed Camaroptera (about 40%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Tawny-flanked Prinia is recorded against all the birds logged in Nairobi National Park (745 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.
