Anhinga rufa
Silhouette: Edwin Price · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The African darter (Anhinga rufa), sometimes called the snakebird, is a water bird of Sub-Saharan Africa and Iraq. The African darter is a member of the darter family, Anhingidae, and is closely related to American (A. anhinga), Oriental (A. melanogaster), and Australasian (A. novaehollandiae) darters.
The African darter is 80 cm (31 in) long. Like other anhingas, it has a very long neck. The male is mainly glossy black with white streaking; females and immature birds are browner. The African darter differs in appearance from the American darter most recognisably by its thin white lateral neck stripe against a rufous background colour. The pointed bill prevents confusion with cormorants.
The African darter is found throughout Sub-Saharan Africa wherever large bodies of water occur; overall, the species remains widespread and common. The only non-African subspecies, the Levant darter (Anhinga rufa chantrei), occurred at Lake Amik (Amik Gölü) in south-central Turkey, in the Hula Valley lake and marshes in northern Israel and in the Mesopotamian Marshes of the lower Euphrates and Tigris rivers in southern Iraq. The Turkish population... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dakar | 🇸🇳 Senegal | |
| 2 | Cape Town | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | Brazzaville | 🇨🇬 Republic of the Congo | |
| 4 | Mombasa | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 5 | Serrekunda | 🇬🇲 Gambia | |
| 6 | Pretoria | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 7 | Johannesburg | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 8 | Durban | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 9 | Nairobi | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 10 | Kampala | 🇺🇬 Uganda |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Diego Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Bronx Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report an African Darter sighting in Tsavo West National Park on a given day, based on 25 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 265th most-seen of the 380 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.
February
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report an African Darter in Tsavo West National Park on a given day, against under 5% in April to January, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most African Darter sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
24th of 31
Of the 31 parks where we can rate African Darter sightings, Tsavo West National Park ranks 24th at under 5%. The best odds are in Akagera National Park (Rwanda, about 60%), Chobe National Park (Botswana, about 60%) and Nairobi National Park (Kenya, about 50%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the African Darter is recorded against all the birds logged in Tsavo West National Park (25 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.
