Uraeginthus cyanocephalus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~60%
The blue-capped cordon-bleu or blue-capped cordonbleu (Uraeginthus cyanocephalus) is native to Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, and Tanzania in East Africa. This small finch does fairly well in captivity given adequate conditions; however, breeding this finch is said to be quite difficult.
The blue-capped cordon-bleu inhabits the subtropical or tropical (lowland) dry grasslands, shrublands, and deserts of subsaharan Africa. It has an estimated global extent of occurrence of 390,000 km2. The finch is an omnivorous passerine eating seeds and small insects. Most of this species do not exceed 7.5 cm (3.0 in) in length and are quiet relative to other finches.
Males have blue on the tops of their heads and tend to be more vivid in colour. On female blue-caps the light brown coloration on the wings extends to the nape of the neck and over the top the head. Pairs dance holding twigs in their beaks, and film using a high-speed camera shows partners tapping their feet between twenty-five and fifty times a second, making a buzzing sound. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tarangire National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 2 | Serengeti National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 3 | Ngorongoro Conservation Area | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 4 | Mkomazi National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 5 | Tsavo West National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 6 | Lake Manyara National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 7 | Samburu National Reserve | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 8 | Tsavo East National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 9 | Ruaha National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 10 | Amboseli National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dar es-Salaam | 🇹🇿 Tanzania |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pairi Daiza | 🇧🇪 Belgium | |
| 2 | Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory | 🇨🇦 Canada |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Blue-capped Cordonbleu sighting in Samburu National Reserve on a given day, based on 142 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 123rd most-seen of the 341 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
November
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Blue-capped Cordonbleu in Samburu National Reserve on a given day, against about 10% in August–October and December–June, the lowest months. That is one of Samburu National Reserve's wettest months, with about 85 mm of rain against 5 mm in September.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Blue-capped Cordonbleu sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
7th of 10
Of the 10 parks where we can rate Blue-capped Cordonbleu sightings, Samburu National Reserve ranks 7th at about 10%. The best odds are in Tarangire National Park (Tanzania, about 30%), Serengeti National Park (Tanzania, about 30%) and Ngorongoro Conservation Area (Tanzania, about 20%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Blue-capped Cordonbleu is recorded against all the birds logged in Samburu National Reserve (142 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.
