Cinnyris pulchellus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The beautiful sunbird (Cinnyris pulchellus), formerly placed in the genus Nectarinia, is a small passerine bird in the sunbird family Nectariniidae. It is native to tropical Africa, its range extending from Senegal and Guinea in the west to Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Kenya in the east. It was formerly considered to be conspecific with the gorgeous sunbird (Cinnyris melanogastrus).
The beautiful sunbird was formally described in 1766 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the twelfth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Certhia pulchella. Linnaeus based his account on "Le grimpereau à longue queue du Sénégal" that had been described and illustrated in 1760 by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson. The specific epithet is from Latin pulchellum meaning "very pretty" or "beautiful little". Formerly placed in the genus Nectarinia, the beautiful sunbird is now one of 64 sunbirds placed in the genus Cinnyris that was introduced in 1816 by the French naturalist Georges Cuvier. It was previously considered to be conspecific with the gorgeous sunbird (Cinnyris melanogastrus) but the species were split based on the differences in morphology... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Niokolo-Koba National Park | 🇸🇳 Senegal | |
| 2 | Awash National Park | 🇪🇹 Ethiopia | |
| 3 | Ruaha National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 4 | Amboseli National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 5 | Serengeti National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 6 | Tarangire National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 7 | Ngorongoro Conservation Area | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 8 | Murchison Falls National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 9 | Lake Manyara National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 10 | Mkomazi National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 11 | Kidepo Valley National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 12 | Tsavo West National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 13 | Arusha National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 14 | Nairobi National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 15 | Masai Mara National Reserve | 🇰🇪 Kenya |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ouagadougou | 🇧🇫 Burkina Faso | |
| 2 | Serrekunda | 🇬🇲 Gambia | |
| 3 | Maiduguri | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | |
| 4 | N'Djamena | 🇹🇩 Chad | |
| 5 | Dakar | 🇸🇳 Senegal | |
| 6 | Kampala | 🇺🇬 Uganda |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bronx Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Beautiful Sunbird sighting in Tsavo West National Park on a given day, based on 21 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.
January, April–May and November
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Beautiful Sunbird in Tsavo West National Park on a given day, against under 5% in February–March, June–October and December, the lowest months. Those are among Tsavo West National Park's wettest months, with about 90 mm of rain a month against 5 mm in July.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Beautiful Sunbird sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
12th of 15
Of the 15 parks where we can rate Beautiful Sunbird sightings, Tsavo West National Park ranks 12th at under 5%. The best odds are in Niokolo-Koba National Park (Senegal, about 60%), Awash National Park (Ethiopia, about 40%) and Ruaha National Park (Tanzania, about 30%). All parks ranked.
Same genus: Cinnyris
The closest relatives of the Beautiful Sunbird that you can see in Tsavo West National Park (genus Cinnyris, Cinnyris Sunbirds) are Tsavo Sunbird (about 30%), Black-bellied Sunbird (about 10%) and Variable Sunbird (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Beautiful Sunbird is recorded against all the birds logged in Tsavo West National Park (21 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.
