Chalcomitra senegalensis
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~80% in a week >90%
The scarlet-chested sunbird (Chalcomitra senegalensis) is a species of bird in the family Nectariniidae. It is found in many areas of Sub-Saharan Africa, and from South Sudan to South Africa. It is found in Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Ivory Coast, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
The scarlet-chested sunbird is similar to Hunter's sunbird in appearance, with adult males having a characteristic red–scarlet coloured breast and an iridescent green patch on top of its head. The female is dark brown with no supercilium. It inhabits woodland and gardens, at elevations of up to 2,400 metres (7,900 ft). The bird is around 13–15 centimetres (5.1–5.9 in) in length, with males having a weight of 7.5–17.2 grams (0.26–0.61 oz) and females weighing 6.8–15.3 grams (0.24–0.54 oz).
In 1760, the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zanzibar City | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 2 | Dar es-Salaam | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 3 | Kigali | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 4 | Kampala | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 5 | Mombasa | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 6 | Abuja | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | |
| 7 | Ouagadougou | 🇧🇫 Burkina Faso | |
| 8 | Lilongwe | 🇲🇼 Malawi | |
| 9 | Harare | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 10 | Nairobi | 🇰🇪 Kenya |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | London Zoo | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom |
Likely
About 40% of wildlife watchers report a Scarlet-chested Sunbird sighting in Selous Game Reserve on a given day, based on 15 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 5th most-seen of the 26 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 80%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Scarlet-chested Sunbird 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 46 parks where we can rate Scarlet-chested Sunbird sightings, Selous Game Reserve ranks 2nd at about 40%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Nairobi National Park (Kenya, about 40%). All parks ranked.
Same order: Passeriformes
The closest relatives of the Scarlet-chested Sunbird that you can see in Selous Game Reserve (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are White-browed Sparrow-Weaver (about 40%), Common Bulbul (about 40%) and Fork-tailed Drongo (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Scarlet-chested Sunbird is recorded against all the birds logged in Selous Game Reserve (15 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.
