Emarginata schlegelii
Silhouette: Martin Bulla, based on François Desbordes' illustration · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The Karoo chat (Emarginata schlegelii) is a small passerine bird of the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae. It is a common resident breeder in southwesternmost Angola, western Namibia and western South Africa. Its habitat is Karoo and desert scrub in the south, extending to the escarpment zone in the north.
The first formal description of the Karoo chat was by the Swedish naturalist Johan August Wahlberg in 1855 under the binomial name Erithacus schlegelii. The species was subsequently placed in the genus Cercomela introduced by Charles Lucien Bonaparte in 1856. It was moved to its current genus, Emarginata, after molecular phylogenetic studies published in 2010 and 2012 found that Cercomela was polyphyletic. The specific name commemorates the German ornithologist, Hermann Schlegel.
There are four subspecies: The Karoo chat is 16–18 cm long and weighs around... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Namib-Naukluft National Park | 🇳🇦 Namibia | |
| 2 | Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Karoo Chat sighting in Namib-Naukluft National Park on a given day, based on 35 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 73rd most-seen of the 108 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.
May, July and October
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Karoo Chat in Namib-Naukluft National Park on a given day, against under 5% in June, August–September and November–April, the lowest months.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Karoo Chat 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 2 parks where we can rate Karoo Chat sightings, Namib-Naukluft National Park has the highest daily chance: under 5%. Next come Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (South Africa, under 5%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Karoo Chat is recorded against all the birds logged in Namib-Naukluft National Park (35 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.
