Euplectes macroura
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~70% in a week ~90%
The yellow-mantled widowbird (Euplectes macroura), also known as the yellow-backed widow, is a species of bird in the family Ploceidae. The yellow-mantled widowbird was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the crossbills in the genus Loxia and coined the binomial name Loxia macroura. Gmelin specified the locality as "Whydah"; this is Ouidah on the coast of Benin in West Africa. The specific epithet is from Ancient Greek makros meaning "long" and -ouros meaning "tailed". The yellow-mantled widowbird is now one of 18 species placed in the genus Euplectes that was introduced in 1829 by the English naturalist William Swainson.
Males are larger than females and acquire longer tails and striking black and golden yellow plumages in the breeding... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Odzala-Kokoua National Park | 🇨🇬 Republic of the Congo | |
| 2 | Masai Mara National Reserve | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 3 | Kafue National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 4 | Bale Mountains National Park | 🇪🇹 Ethiopia | |
| 5 | Murchison Falls National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 6 | Serengeti National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Harare | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Yellow-shouldered Widowbird sighting in Odzala-Kokoua National Park on a given day, based on 18 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 9th most-seen of the 72 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.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Yellow-shouldered Widowbird 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 6 parks where we can rate Yellow-shouldered Widowbird sightings, Odzala-Kokoua National Park has the highest daily chance: about 30%. Next come Masai Mara National Reserve (Kenya, about 10%) and Kafue National Park (Zambia, about 10%).
Same family: Ploceidae
The closest relatives of the Yellow-shouldered Widowbird that you can see in Odzala-Kokoua National Park (family Ploceidae, Weavers and Allies) are Vieillot's Weaver (about 30%), Crested Malimbe (about 20%) and Black-throated Malimbe (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Yellow-shouldered Widowbird is recorded against all the birds logged in Odzala-Kokoua National Park (18 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.
