Linurgus olivaceus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
The oriole finch (Linurgus olivaceus) is a small passerine bird in the finch family. It is found in Africa and is native to Burundi, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. It lives in subtropical or tropical moist evergreen montane forests.
The male has a black head, a yellow body, black flight feathers and a stout bright yellow-orange conical bill. The female is a dull greenish-olive but has black flight feathers and a yellow bill. The oriole finch was formally described in 1843 by the British zoologist Louis Fraser under the binomial name Coccothraustes olivaceus. It is now the only species placed in the genus Linurgus that was introduced by Ludwig Reichenbach in 1850. The exact relationship of this species to other finches is unclear. In their phylogenetic analysis published in 2012, Zuccon and colleagues found that the oriole finch was sister to the genus Serinus. This contrasts with an earlier 2009 analysis by Nguembock and colleagues which found that the oriole finch was sister to the genus Carduelis.
Four subspecies are recognised: Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arusha National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 2 | Bwindi Impenetrable National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 3 | Ngorongoro Conservation Area | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 4 | Nyungwe National Park | 🇷🇼 Rwanda |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report an Oriole Finch sighting in Ngorongoro Conservation Area on a given day, based on 23 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 409th most-seen of the 519 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report an Oriole Finch in Ngorongoro Conservation Area on a given day, against under 5% in October to August, the lowest months. That is one of Ngorongoro Conservation Area's driest months, with about 5 mm of rain against 190 mm in April.
Between 6 and 9 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Oriole Finch 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 4 parks where we can rate Oriole Finch sightings, Ngorongoro Conservation Area ranks 3rd at under 5%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Arusha National Park (Tanzania, under 5%) and Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (Uganda, under 5%).
Same family: Fringillidae
The closest relatives of the Oriole Finch that you can see in Ngorongoro Conservation Area (family Fringillidae, Finches, Euphonias, and Allies) are Streaky Seedeater (about 30%), White-bellied Canary (about 20%) and Southern Citril (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Oriole Finch is recorded against all the birds logged in Ngorongoro Conservation Area (23 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.
