Lanius dorsalis
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The Taita fiscal or Teita fiscal (Lanius dorsalis) is a member of the shrike family found in east Africa from southeastern South Sudan, southern Ethiopia, and western Somalia to northeastern Tanzania. Its habitat is dry open thornbush and acacia and other dry open woodland.
This is a fairly distinctive 21 cm (8.3 in)-long passerine with white underparts and a black crown, hindneck and wings. The back is grey with a characteristic white 'V' and the rump is white. The tail is relatively long and black with white outer feathers. There is a small white patch on the wings. The bill, eyes and legs are black. The adult male and female Taita fiscal have similar plumage except for a rufous lower flank of the female which is usually hidden by the wing.
The juvenile is mainly brown–black above, with barring on the head and buff tips to the shoulder feathers. Its underparts are whitish with darker barring. The adult Taita fiscal is distinguished from other black-headed fiscals by the grey back and the wing pattern, if those are well seen. It gives a jumbled mix of shrike-like whistles and buzzes, including a chwaa-pikerrek-chrrrr-yook pikechik song.
The Taita... Wikipedia →
Song1:24
Ethiopia · 2015
© Andrew Spencer · XC210028 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tsavo East National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 2 | Samburu National Reserve | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 3 | Meru National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 4 | Amboseli National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 5 | Tsavo West National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 6 | Ngorongoro Conservation Area | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 7 | Serengeti National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 8 | Arusha National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 9 | Tarangire National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 10 | Nairobi National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 11 | Masai Mara National Reserve | 🇰🇪 Kenya |
Likely
About 50% of wildlife watchers report a Teita Fiscal sighting in Samburu National Reserve on a given day, based on 557 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 27th most-seen of the 341 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.
October and November
In those months about 60% of wildlife watchers report a Teita Fiscal in Samburu National Reserve on a given day, against about 40% in August and December–March, the lowest months. Those are among Samburu National Reserve's wettest months, with about 65 mm of rain a month against 5 mm in September.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Teita Fiscal sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 11 parks where we can rate Teita Fiscal sightings, Samburu National Reserve ranks 2nd at about 50%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Tsavo East National Park (Kenya, about 50%). All parks ranked.
Same genus: Lanius
The closest relatives of the Teita Fiscal that you can see in Samburu National Reserve (genus Lanius, Typical Shrikes) are Red-tailed Shrike (about 10%), Red-backed Shrike (about 10%) and Isabelline Shrike (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Teita Fiscal is recorded against all the birds logged in Samburu National Reserve (557 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.
