Terpsiphone rufiventer
Silhouette: PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
The red-bellied paradise flycatcher (Terpsiphone rufiventer), also known as the black-headed paradise flycatcher, is a medium-sized passerine bird of the family of monarch flycatchers. It is native to intra-tropical forests of Africa. The male bird is about 17 cm (7 in) long and has a black head, a mainly chestnut body, and a tail with streamers nearly twice as long as the body. The colouring is somewhat variable across the bird's range. Both females and juveniles lack the tail streamers and are a duller brown colour. It is closely related to the African paradise flycatcher, and the two can hybridise.
The red-bellied paradise flycatcher was formally described and illustrated in 1837 by the English zoologist William Swainson under the binomial name Muscipeta rufiventer. Although Swainson was describing birds from West Africa, the type locality has been restricted to Senegal. The specific epithet is Modern Latin meaning "red-bellied" from Latin rufus meaning "ruddy" or "rufous" and venter, ventris meaning "belly". The red-bellied paradise flycatcher is now one of 16 paradise flycatchers placed in the genus Terpsiphone that was introduced in 1827 by the German zoologist... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Semuliki National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 2 | Kibale National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 3 | Taï National Park | 🇨🇮 Ivory Coast | |
| 4 | Bwindi Impenetrable National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 5 | Queen Elizabeth National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 6 | Lake Mburo National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kampala | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 2 | Serrekunda | 🇬🇲 Gambia | |
| 3 | Accra | 🇬🇭 Ghana |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Black-headed Paradise-Flycatcher sighting in Queen Elizabeth National Park on a given day, based on 15 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 328th most-seen of the 434 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Black-headed Paradise-Flycatcher in Queen Elizabeth National Park on a given day, against under 5% in May to March, the lowest months. That is one of Queen Elizabeth National Park's wettest months, with about 150 mm of rain against 15 mm in January.
Between 3 and 6 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Black-headed Paradise-Flycatcher sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
5th of 6
Of the 6 parks where we can rate Black-headed Paradise-Flycatcher sightings, Queen Elizabeth National Park ranks 5th at under 5%. The best odds are in Semuliki National Park (Uganda, about 50%), Kibale National Park (Uganda, about 40%) and Taï National Park (Ivory Coast, about 30%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Black-headed Paradise-Flycatcher is recorded against all the birds logged in Queen Elizabeth National Park (15 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.
