Uraeginthus cyanocephalus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%
The blue-capped cordon-bleu or blue-capped cordonbleu (Uraeginthus cyanocephalus) is native to Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, and Tanzania in East Africa. This small finch does fairly well in captivity given adequate conditions; however, breeding this finch is said to be quite difficult.
The blue-capped cordon-bleu inhabits the subtropical or tropical (lowland) dry grasslands, shrublands, and deserts of subsaharan Africa. It has an estimated global extent of occurrence of 390,000 km2. The finch is an omnivorous passerine eating seeds and small insects. Most of this species do not exceed 7.5 cm (3.0 in) in length and are quiet relative to other finches.
Males have blue on the tops of their heads and tend to be more vivid in colour. On female blue-caps the light brown coloration on the wings extends to the nape of the neck and over the top the head. Pairs dance holding twigs in their beaks, and film using a high-speed camera shows partners tapping their feet between twenty-five and fifty times a second, making a buzzing sound. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tarangire National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 2 | Serengeti National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 3 | Ngorongoro Conservation Area | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 4 | Mkomazi National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 5 | Tsavo West National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 6 | Lake Manyara National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 7 | Samburu National Reserve | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 8 | Tsavo East National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 9 | Ruaha National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 10 | Amboseli National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dar es-Salaam | 🇹🇿 Tanzania |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pairi Daiza | 🇧🇪 Belgium | |
| 2 | Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory | 🇨🇦 Canada |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Blue-capped Cordonbleu sighting in Tsavo West National Park on a given day, based on 164 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 89th most-seen of the 380 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 50%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January and June–July
In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Blue-capped Cordonbleu in Tsavo West National Park on a given day, against about 10% in April, September and December, the lowest months. Those are among Tsavo West National Park's driest months, with about 20 mm of rain a month against 140 mm in November.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Blue-capped Cordonbleu sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
5th of 10
Of the 10 parks where we can rate Blue-capped Cordonbleu sightings, Tsavo West National Park ranks 5th at about 20%. The best odds are in Tarangire National Park (Tanzania, about 30%), Serengeti National Park (Tanzania, about 30%) and Ngorongoro Conservation Area (Tanzania, about 20%).
Same genus: Uraeginthus
The closest relatives of the Blue-capped Cordonbleu that you can see in Tsavo West National Park (genus Uraeginthus, Cordonbleus) are Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu (about 20%) and Purple Grenadier (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Blue-capped Cordonbleu is recorded against all the birds logged in Tsavo West National Park (164 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.
