Indicator indicator
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
The greater honeyguide (Indicator indicator) is a bird in the family Indicatoridae, paleotropical near passerine birds related to the woodpeckers. Its English and scientific names refer to its habit of guiding people to bee colonies. Claims that it also guides non-human animals are disputed.
The greater honeyguide is a resident breeder in sub-Saharan Africa. It lives in a variety of habitats with trees, especially dry open woodland, but not in the West African rain forest. The greater honeyguide has bold white patches on the sides of the tail, is about 20 cm (7.9 in) long and weighs about 50 g (1.8 oz). The male has a black throat, pink bill, dark grey-brown upperparts and white underparts. The wings are streaked whitish, and the shoulder patch is yellow. The female is duller, has a blackish bill, and her throat is black. Immature birds have olive-brown upperparts with a white rump, yellow throat and upper breast.
The greater honeyguide is known to guide people to the nests of wild bees. A guiding bird attracts a person's attention with wavering, chattering "'tya' notes compounded with peeps or pipes", sounds it also gives in aggression... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mombasa | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 2 | Pretoria | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | Serrekunda | 🇬🇲 Gambia | |
| 4 | Johannesburg | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 5 | Harare | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 6 | Kampala | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 7 | Kigali | 🇷🇼 Rwanda |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Greater Honeyguide sighting in Tsavo East National Park on a given day, based on 5 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 330th most-seen of the 345 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Greater Honeyguide in Tsavo East National Park on a given day, against under 5% in July to May, the lowest months. That is one of Tsavo East National Park's driest months, with about 10 mm of rain against 130 mm in November.
Between 7 and 10 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Greater Honeyguide sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is mostly seen at night.
37th of 43
Of the 43 parks where we can rate Greater Honeyguide sightings, Tsavo East National Park ranks 37th at under 5%. The best odds are in Gonarezhou National Park (Zimbabwe, about 30%), Ruaha National Park (Tanzania, about 20%) and Kidepo Valley National Park (Uganda, about 20%).
Same order: Piciformes
The closest relatives of the Greater Honeyguide that you can see in Tsavo East National Park (order Piciformes, Woodpeckers and Allies) are D'Arnaud's Barbet (about 30%), Nubian Woodpecker (about 20%) and Red-and-yellow Barbet (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Greater Honeyguide is recorded against all the birds logged in Tsavo East National Park (5 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.
