Lonchura cucullata
Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The bronze mannikin or bronze munia (Spermestes cucullata) is a small passerine (i.e. perching) bird of the Afrotropics. This very social estrildid finch is an uncommon to locally abundant bird in much of Africa south of the Sahara Desert, where it is resident, nomadic or irruptive in mesic savanna or forest margin habitats. It has an estimated global extent of occurrence of 23,600,000 km2 (9,100,000 sq mi). It is the smallest and most widespread of four munia species on the African mainland, the other being black-and-white, red-backed and magpie mannikin. It co-occurs with the Madagascar mannikin on the Comoro Islands, and was introduced to Puerto Rico. Especially in the West Africa, it is considered a pest in grain and rice fields. It is locally trapped for the pet bird trade.
The bronze mannikin was formally described in 1837 by the English naturalist William Swainson and given the binomial name Spermestes cucullata. The specific epithet is from Late Latin cucullatus meaning "hooded". The type locality is Senegal.
Two subspecies are recognised: Wikipedia →
Recording0:31
Botswana · 2020
© Dewald du Plessis · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
Recording0:06
Gabon · 2021
© bureaubenjamin · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
Recording0:11
South Africa · 2021
© Errol Douwes · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brazzaville | 🇨🇬 Republic of the Congo | |
| 2 | Maputo | 🇲🇿 Mozambique | |
| 3 | Yaoundé | 🇨🇲 Cameroon | |
| 4 | Serrekunda | 🇬🇲 Gambia | |
| 5 | Kigali | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 6 | Durban | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 7 | Abuja | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | |
| 8 | Nairobi | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 9 | Mombasa | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 10 | Harare | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Bronze Mannikin sighting in South Luangwa National Park on a given day, based on 19 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 198th most-seen of the 257 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May and October
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Bronze Mannikin in South Luangwa National Park on a given day, against under 5% in June–September and November–April, the lowest months. Those are among South Luangwa National Park's driest months, with about 5 mm of rain a month against 310 mm in January.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Bronze Mannikin sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
29th of 39
Of the 39 parks where we can rate Bronze Mannikin sightings, South Luangwa National Park ranks 29th at under 5%. The best odds are in Nairobi National Park (Kenya, about 40%), Kibale National Park (Uganda, about 40%) and Semuliki National Park (Uganda, about 40%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Estrildidae
The closest relatives of the Bronze Mannikin that you can see in South Luangwa National Park (family Estrildidae, Waxbills and Allies) are Blue-breasted Cordonbleu (about 60%), Red-billed Firefinch (about 30%) and Green-winged Pytilia (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Bronze Mannikin is recorded against all the birds logged in South Luangwa National Park (19 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.
