Cecropis semirufa
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The red-breasted swallow (Cecropis semirufa), also known as the rufous-chested swallow, is a member of the family Hirundinidae, found in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is confined to the tropical rainforest during the wet season.
The red-breasted swallow is similar to the mosque swallow but is slightly smaller and has longer tail streamers, both species having a blue crown and mantle contrasting with a rufous rump and underparts, In the red-breasted swallow the dark crown extends below the eye and there is no white on the underwing. The juvenile is similar to the red-rumped swallow but has blue on the side of the head rather than dull red.
The red-breasted swallow is found over most of Africa south of the Sahara from the Eastern Cape north to northern Namibia and southern Angola in the west and Mozambique in the east, with a disjunct range from Senegal south to northern Angola east to Uganda, southwestern Kenya and northwestern Tanzania.
The red-breasted swallow is migratory in most of its range. In southern Africa it is a summer visitor, nesting between July and March with most of the population migrating to equatorial Africa, although a... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Etosha National Park | 🇳🇦 Namibia | |
| 2 | iSimangaliso Wetland Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | uMkhuze Game Reserve | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 4 | Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 5 | Hwange National Park | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 6 | Kruger National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 7 | Lake Mburo National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 8 | Pilanesberg National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 9 | Masai Mara National Reserve | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 10 | Kafue National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 11 | Kidepo Valley National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 12 | Queen Elizabeth National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 13 | Moremi Game Reserve | 🇧🇼 Botswana | |
| 14 | Chobe National Park | 🇧🇼 Botswana | |
| 15 | Serengeti National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 16 | Kibale National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 17 | Virunga National Park | 🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of the Congo | |
| 18 | Bwindi Impenetrable National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Freetown | 🇸🇱 Sierra Leone |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Rufous-chested Swallow sighting in Queen Elizabeth National Park on a given day, based on 71 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 221st most-seen of the 434 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January–March, May and July
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Rufous-chested Swallow in Queen Elizabeth National Park on a given day, against under 5% in April, June and August–December, the lowest months.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Rufous-chested Swallow sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
12th of 18
Of the 18 parks where we can rate Rufous-chested Swallow sightings, Queen Elizabeth National Park ranks 12th at under 5%. The best odds are in Etosha National Park (Namibia, about 20%), iSimangaliso Wetland Park (South Africa, about 20%) and uMkhuze Game Reserve (South Africa, about 20%).
Same genus: Cecropis
The closest relatives of the Rufous-chested Swallow that you can see in Queen Elizabeth National Park (genus Cecropis, Red-rumped Swallows, Striped Swallows, and Allies) are Lesser Striped-Swallow (about 30%) and Mosque Swallow (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Rufous-chested Swallow is recorded against all the birds logged in Queen Elizabeth National Park (71 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.
