Cisticola tinniens
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
Levaillant's cisticola (Cisticola tinniens), also known as the tinkling cisticola, is a small passerine bird which is native to marshlands in the uplands of Africa, southwards of the equator. Levaillant's cisticola was formally described in 1842 by the German naturalist Hinrich Lichtenstein under the binomial name Malurus tinniens. The type locality is the Vaal River in South Africa. The specific epithet tinniens is Latin meaning "tinkling" or "ringing". Levaillant's cisticola is now one of 53 species placed in the genus Cisticola that was introduced in 1829 by the German naturalist Johann Jakob Kaup.
The Scottish zoologist Andrew Smith also described Levaillant's cisticola in 1842. He chose the binomial name Drymoica levallantii where the specific epithet honoured the memory of the French naturalist François Levaillant. In 1876 the English ornithologist Richard Bowdler Sharpe used the English name "Le Vaillant's Fantail Warbler" in the second edition of Edgar Layard's The Birds of South Africa.
Six subspecies are recognised: Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Golden Gate Highlands National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | West Coast National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | Garden Route National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 4 | Table Mountain National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 5 | De Hoop Nature Reserve | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 6 | Pilanesberg National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 7 | Addo Elephant National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 8 | iSimangaliso Wetland Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 9 | Kruger National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cape Town | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | Harare | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 3 | Johannesburg | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 4 | Pretoria | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Levaillant's Cisticola sighting in Pilanesberg National Park on a given day, based on 11 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 182nd most-seen of the 233 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January, April and October
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Levaillant's Cisticola in Pilanesberg National Park on a given day, against under 5% in February–March, May–September and November–December, the lowest months.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Levaillant's Cisticola sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
6th of 9
Of the 9 parks where we can rate Levaillant's Cisticola sightings, Pilanesberg National Park ranks 6th at under 5%. The best odds are in Golden Gate Highlands National Park (South Africa, about 50%), West Coast National Park (South Africa, about 30%) and Garden Route National Park (South Africa, about 20%).
Same genus: Cisticola
The closest relatives of the Levaillant's Cisticola that you can see in Pilanesberg National Park (genus Cisticola, Cisticolas) are Rattling Cisticola (about 30%), Piping Cisticola (about 10%) and Zitting Cisticola (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Levaillant's Cisticola is recorded against all the birds logged in Pilanesberg National Park (11 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.
