Uraeginthus bengalus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
The red-cheeked cordon-bleu or red-cheeked cordonbleu (Uraeginthus bengalus) is a small passerine bird in the family Estrildidae. This estrildid finch is a resident breeding bird in drier regions of tropical Sub-Saharan Africa. Red-cheeked cordon-bleu has an estimated global extent of occurrence of 7,700,000 km2.
In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the red-cheeked cordon-bleu in his Ornithologie based on a specimen that he mistakenly believed had been collected in Bengal. He used the French name Le Bengali and the Latin Bengalus. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson. One of these was the red-cheeked cordon-bleu. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Fringilla bengalus and cited Brisson's work. The specific name bengalus is based on the erroneous belief that the species came from Bengal. The type location was... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kidepo Valley National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 2 | Lake Nakuru National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 3 | Akagera National Park | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 4 | Murchison Falls National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 5 | Ruaha National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 6 | Nairobi National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 7 | Lake Mburo National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 8 | Mkomazi National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 9 | Meru National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 10 | Tarangire National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 11 | Awash National Park | 🇪🇹 Ethiopia | |
| 12 | Niokolo-Koba National Park | 🇸🇳 Senegal | |
| 13 | Tsavo West National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 14 | Serengeti National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 15 | Masai Mara National Reserve | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 16 | Lake Manyara National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 17 | Aberdare National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 18 | Tsavo East National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 19 | Mikumi National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 20 | Samburu National Reserve | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 21 | Ngorongoro Conservation Area | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 22 | Amboseli National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 23 | Queen Elizabeth National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mombasa | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 2 | Ouagadougou | 🇧🇫 Burkina Faso | |
| 3 | Serrekunda | 🇬🇲 Gambia | |
| 4 | N'Djamena | 🇹🇩 Chad | |
| 5 | Abuja | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | |
| 6 | Maiduguri | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | |
| 7 | Kigali | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 8 | Addis Ababa | 🇪🇹 Ethiopia | |
| 9 | Kampala | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 10 | Nairobi | 🇰🇪 Kenya |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Diego Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Nuremberg Zoo | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 3 | Tiergarten Am Tiergarten 28 in Nürnberg | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 4 | Kano Zoo | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | |
| 5 | Granby Zoo | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 6 | Berlin Zoological Garden | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 7 | Parc Zoologique et Botanique de Mulhouse | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 8 | Schönbrunn Zoo | 🇦🇹 Austria | |
| 9 | Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 10 | Aquarium Berlin | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 11 | Birdworld Kuranda | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 12 | Bloedel Conservatory | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 13 | Kuranda Koala Gardens | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 14 | Tiergarten Am Tiergarten 12 in Nürnberg | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 15 | Tiergarten Am Tiergarten 14 in Nürnberg | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 16 | Tiergarten Am Tiergarten 6 in Nürnberg | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 17 | Audu Bako Zoo | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | |
| 18 | Butterfly World | 🇺🇸 United States |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu sighting in Queen Elizabeth National Park on a given day, based on 12 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 349th 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.
March
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu in Queen Elizabeth National Park on a given day, against under 5% in April to February, the lowest months.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
23rd of 23
Of the 23 parks where we can rate Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu sightings, Queen Elizabeth National Park ranks 23rd at under 5%. The best odds are in Kidepo Valley National Park (Uganda, about 70%), Lake Nakuru National Park (Kenya, about 70%) and Akagera National Park (Rwanda, about 60%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Estrildidae
The closest relatives of the Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu that you can see in Queen Elizabeth National Park (family Estrildidae, Waxbills and Allies) are Red-billed Firefinch (about 40%), Bronze Mannikin (about 20%) and African Firefinch (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu is recorded against all the birds logged in Queen Elizabeth National Park (12 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.
