Cinnyris regius
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The regal sunbird (Cinnyris regius) is a species of bird in the family Nectariniidae. It is native to the Albertine Rift montane forests. The regal sunbird is a small species. The adult male has head and upper parts an iridescent golden-green, dark wings and tail and a boldly-marked red and yellow breast and belly. The adult female has dull olive upper parts, with yellowish, faintly streaked underparts. The male is distinctive, but the female could be confused with the female Rockefeller's sunbird (Cinnyris rockefelleri), though this has a paler throat. The female Rwenzori double-collared sunbird (Cinnyris stuhlmanni) and the female northern double-collared sunbird (Cinnyris reichenowi) are also similar, but these have greener upper parts and yellower underparts; another similar species is the variable sunbird (Cinnyris venustus), but the regal can be recognised by the upper parts being more olive and the underparts a more uniform yellowish-olive.
The regal sunbird's range spans the entire Albertine Rift montane forests (from Uganda to Tanzania), where it occurs between 1,500 and 3,100 m (4,900 and 10,200 ft) above sea level. Its habitat... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nyungwe National Park | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 2 | Volcanoes National Park | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 3 | Bwindi Impenetrable National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 4 | Virunga National Park | 🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of the Congo |
Likely
About 60% of wildlife watchers report a Regal Sunbird sighting in Nyungwe National Park on a given day, based on 868 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 5th 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.
March and November–January
In those months about 70% of wildlife watchers report a Regal Sunbird in Nyungwe National Park on a given day, against about 60% in February and April–October, the lowest months. Those are among Nyungwe National Park's wettest months, with about 440 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 Regal Sunbird 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 Regal Sunbird sightings, Nyungwe National Park has the highest daily chance: about 60%. Next come Volcanoes National Park (Rwanda, about 30%) and Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (Uganda, about 30%). All parks ranked.
Same genus: Cinnyris
The closest relatives of the Regal Sunbird that you can see in Nyungwe National Park (genus Cinnyris, Cinnyris Sunbirds) are Variable Sunbird (about 50%), Northern Double-collared Sunbird (about 30%) and Stuhlmann's Sunbird (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Regal Sunbird is recorded against all the birds logged in Nyungwe National Park (868 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.
