Euplectes albonotatus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
The white-winged widowbird (Euplectes albonotatus) is a species of passerine bird in the family Ploceidae native to Africa south of the Sahara. It is highly sexually dimorphic in its breeding season, during which the male's yellow plumage turns dark and he gains more white feathers, contrasting with the female's predominantly pale coloration. Three subspecies are recognised.
The white-winged widowbird was first described by the American ornithologist John Cassin in 1848. Hybrids with "red bishops", probably northern red bishop (E. franciscanus), have been reported in captivity. Non-captive interbreeding of race eques with nominate appears to occur in southern Tanzania, but they appear to stay segregated in Burundi and western Tanzania. A proposal has been made for race sassii, which is found along the northwestern shore of Lake Tanganyika. Alternate common names include: white-fronted/white-shouldered widowbird, white-winged/white-shouldered whydah, long-tailed black whydah. Wikipedia →
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a White-winged Widowbird sighting in Samburu National Reserve on a given day, based on 77 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 168th most-seen of the 341 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January and April–May
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a White-winged Widowbird in Samburu National Reserve on a given day, against under 5% in March and June–October, the lowest months. Those are among Samburu National Reserve's wettest months, with about 45 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 White-winged Widowbird sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
14th of 32
Of the 32 parks where we can rate White-winged Widowbird sightings, Samburu National Reserve ranks 14th at about 10%. The best odds are in Nairobi National Park (Kenya, about 30%), Mkomazi National Park (Tanzania, about 30%) and uMkhuze Game Reserve (South Africa, about 20%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the White-winged Widowbird is recorded against all the birds logged in Samburu National Reserve (77 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.
