Campethera bennettii
Silhouette: Pepe Reigada · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
Bennett's woodpecker (Campethera bennettii) is a species of bird in the family Picidae. It is found in woodlands and bushes in Africa. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has assessed it as a least-concern species.
This species was described by Andrew Smith in 1836. Two subspecies are recognised: Campethera bennettii bennettii and C. b. capricorni. The common name and Latin binomial commemorate the British naturalist Edward Turner Bennett. Bennett's woodpecker, the fine-spotted woodpecker, the Nubian woodpecker and the speckle-throated woodpecker form a superspecies.
Bennett's woodpecker is about 24 cm (9.4 in) long and weighs 61–84 g (2.2–3.0 oz). The male's forehead, crown and nape are red. The chin and throat are white. The upperparts are brown, yellow and white. The underparts are pale yellow, and there are dark spots on the breast and flanks. The eyes are red, the beak is grey, and the legs are bluish-green or grey-green. The female has a black forehead with white spots, and its ear coverts and throat are brown or blackish-brown. The juvenile bird has a black forehead and crown and darker upperparts. The subspecies capricorni... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gonarezhou National Park | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 2 | Moremi Game Reserve | 🇧🇼 Botswana | |
| 3 | Lower Zambezi National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 4 | Mana Pools National Park | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 5 | Kafue National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 6 | South Luangwa National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 7 | Kruger National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 8 | Hwange National Park | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 9 | Liwonde National Park | 🇲🇼 Malawi | |
| 10 | Gorongosa National Park | 🇲🇿 Mozambique | |
| 11 | Chobe National Park | 🇧🇼 Botswana |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Bennett's Woodpecker sighting in South Luangwa National Park on a given day, based on 47 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 148th most-seen of the 257 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.
May–August, October and December
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Bennett's Woodpecker in South Luangwa National Park on a given day, against under 5% in January–April, September and November, the lowest months. Those are among South Luangwa National Park's driest months, with about 40 mm of rain a month against 310 mm in January.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Bennett's Woodpecker sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
6th of 11
Of the 11 parks where we can rate Bennett's Woodpecker sightings, South Luangwa National Park ranks 6th at about 10%. The best odds are in Gonarezhou National Park (Zimbabwe, about 20%), Moremi Game Reserve (Botswana, about 20%) and Lower Zambezi National Park (Zambia, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Bennett's Woodpecker is recorded against all the birds logged in South Luangwa National Park (47 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.
