Apalis personata
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The mountain masked apalis (Apalis personata), also known as the black-faced apalis, is a species of bird in the family Cisticolidae. It is native to the Albertine Rift montane forests. It was first described in 1902. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nyungwe National Park | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 2 | Bwindi Impenetrable National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 3 | Volcanoes National Park | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 4 | Virunga National Park | 🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of the Congo |
Likely
About 50% of wildlife watchers report a Black-faced Apalis sighting in Nyungwe National Park on a given day, based on 777 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 10th most-seen of the 252 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
October and December
In those months about 70% of wildlife watchers report a Black-faced Apalis in Nyungwe National Park on a given day, against about 20% in May, the lowest month. Those are among Nyungwe National Park's wettest months, with about 470 mm of rain a month against 30 mm in July.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Black-faced Apalis sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 4 parks where we can rate Black-faced Apalis sightings, Nyungwe National Park has the highest daily chance: about 50%. Next come Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (Uganda, about 30%) and Volcanoes National Park (Rwanda, about 20%). All parks ranked.
Same genus: Apalis
The closest relatives of the Black-faced Apalis that you can see in Nyungwe National Park (genus Apalis, Apalises) are Chestnut-throated Apalis (about 30%), Black-throated Apalis (about 30%) and Gray Apalis (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Black-faced Apalis is recorded against all the birds logged in Nyungwe National Park (777 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.
