Yellow-billed Shrike

Yellow-billed Shrike

Corvinella corvina

Silhouette: PhyloPic

Daily sighting probability ~30% · Possible
at Niokolo-Koba National Park

In 3 days ~70% in a week ~90%

123 Verified sightings at Niokolo-Koba National Park From 2019 to 2026
431 In all 2 parks
September Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Yellow-billed Shrike

The yellow-billed shrike (Corvinella corvina) is a large passerine bird in the shrike family. It is sometimes known as the long-tailed shrike, but this invites confusion with the long-tailed shrike, Lanius schach, of tropical southern Asia. It is the only species placed in the genus Corvinella. The yellow-billed shrike is a common resident breeding bird in tropical Africa from Senegal eastwards to Uganda and locally in westernmost Kenya. It frequents forest and other habitats with trees.

The yellow-billed shrike was formally described in 1809 as Lanius corvinus by the English naturalist George Shaw. The specific epithet is from Latin meaning "raven-like". Shaw based his account on "La Grande-pie-grieche" that had been described and illustrated in 1799 by the French naturalist François Levaillant. Levaillant had acquired a preserved specimen from a dealer and did not know its origin. In 1831 the French naturalist René Lesson introduced the genus Corvinella to accommodate the yellow-billed shrike and also designated the type location as Senegal. Based on the results of molecular genetic studies, this species has sometimes been placed in the genus Lanius, but the phylogenetic... Wikipedia →

Sounds

Song1:12

Gambia · 2025

© Romuald Mikusek · XC1018433 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Call1:21

Ghana · 2022

© Peter Boesman · XC719048 · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Alarm call0:33

Guinea-Bissau · 2020

© Joost van Bruggen · XC523696 · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Kidepo Valley National Park 🇺🇬 Uganda
~70%
2 Niokolo-Koba National Park 🇸🇳 Senegal
~30%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Accra 🇬🇭 Ghana
~50%
2 Ouagadougou 🇧🇫 Burkina Faso
~50%
3 Abuja 🇳🇬 Nigeria
~50%
4 Serrekunda 🇬🇲 Gambia
~30%
5 Lomé 🇹🇬 Togo
~20%
6 Cotonou 🇧🇯 Benin
~10%

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Yellow-billed Shrike in Niokolo-Koba National Park?

Possible

About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Yellow-billed Shrike sighting in Niokolo-Koba National Park on a given day, based on 123 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 63rd most-seen of the 215 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 70%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Yellow-billed Shrike in Niokolo-Koba National Park?

January, March and September

In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Yellow-billed Shrike in Niokolo-Koba National Park on a given day, against about 20% in April, August and November, the lowest months. May–July and October have too few records to rate.

What time of day is best to see a Yellow-billed Shrike?

Between 3 and 6 pm

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Yellow-billed Shrike sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.

Is Niokolo-Koba National Park the best place to see a Yellow-billed Shrike?

2nd of 2

Of the 2 parks where we can rate Yellow-billed Shrike sightings, Niokolo-Koba National Park ranks 2nd at about 30%. The best odds are in Kidepo Valley National Park (Uganda, about 70%).

Where does the Yellow-billed Shrike sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Yellow-billed Shrike is recorded against all the birds logged in Niokolo-Koba National Park (123 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.

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