Anhinga rufa
Silhouette: Edwin Price · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The African darter (Anhinga rufa), sometimes called the snakebird, is a water bird of Sub-Saharan Africa and Iraq. The African darter is a member of the darter family, Anhingidae, and is closely related to American (A. anhinga), Oriental (A. melanogaster), and Australasian (A. novaehollandiae) darters.
The African darter is 80 cm (31 in) long. Like other anhingas, it has a very long neck. The male is mainly glossy black with white streaking; females and immature birds are browner. The African darter differs in appearance from the American darter most recognisably by its thin white lateral neck stripe against a rufous background colour. The pointed bill prevents confusion with cormorants.
The African darter is found throughout Sub-Saharan Africa wherever large bodies of water occur; overall, the species remains widespread and common. The only non-African subspecies, the Levant darter (Anhinga rufa chantrei), occurred at Lake Amik (Amik Gölü) in south-central Turkey, in the Hula Valley lake and marshes in northern Israel and in the Mesopotamian Marshes of the lower Euphrates and Tigris rivers in southern Iraq. The Turkish population...
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dakar | 🇸🇳 Senegal | |
| 2 | Brazzaville | 🇨🇬 Republic of the Congo | |
| 3 | Cape Town | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 4 | Mombasa | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 5 | Serrekunda | 🇬🇲 Gambia | |
| 6 | Pretoria | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 7 | Johannesburg | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 8 | Durban | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 9 | Nairobi | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 10 | Kampala | 🇺🇬 Uganda |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Diego Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Bronx Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States |
Likely
About 60% of wildlife watchers report an African Darter sighting in Saloum Delta National Park on a given day, based on 18 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 12th most-seen of the 70 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most African Darter sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 33 parks where we can rate African Darter sightings, Saloum Delta National Park ranks 2nd at about 60%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Akagera National Park (Rwanda, about 60%). All parks ranked.
Same order: Suliformes
The closest relatives of the African Darter that you can see in Saloum Delta National Park (order Suliformes, Gannets, Cormorants, and Allies) are Great Cormorant (about 70%) and Long-tailed Cormorant (about 70%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the African Darter is recorded against all the birds logged in Saloum Delta 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.
