Anthoscopus musculus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10%
The mouse-coloured penduline tit or mouse-colored penduline tit (Anthoscopus musculus) is a species of bird in the family Remizidae. At 8 cm (3.1 in) in length, it is one of the two shortest birds native to Africa, alongside the tit hylia.
The mouse-coloured penduline tit was formally described in 1882 by the German ornithologist Gustav Hartlaub under the binomial name Aegithalus musculus. The species is now placed in the genus Anthoscopus that was introduced in 1851 by the German ornithologist Jean Cabanis. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek anthos meaning "blossom" or "flower" with skopos meaning "searcher". The specific epithet musculus is Latin meaning "little mouse". The species is considered to be monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.
This species has an extensive range in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda, with an estimated global Extent of Occurrence of 550,000 km2. Its natural habitats are dry savannah and subtropical or tropical dry shrubland.
Compilers: Stuart Butchart, Jonathan Ekstrom (2008). "Mouse-coloured Penduline-tit - BirdLife Species Factsheet"... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Awash National Park | 🇪🇹 Ethiopia | |
| 2 | Mkomazi National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 3 | Samburu National Reserve | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 4 | Kidepo Valley National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 5 | Tsavo West National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Mouse-colored Penduline-Tit sighting in Tsavo West National Park on a given day, based on 16 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 306th most-seen of the 380 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June and October
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Mouse-colored Penduline-Tit in Tsavo West National Park on a given day, against under 5% in July–September and November–May, the lowest months. Those are among Tsavo West National Park's driest months, with about 30 mm of rain a month against 140 mm in November.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Mouse-colored Penduline-Tit sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
5th of 5
Of the 5 parks where we can rate Mouse-colored Penduline-Tit sightings, Tsavo West National Park ranks 5th at under 5%. The best odds are in Awash National Park (Ethiopia, about 40%), Mkomazi National Park (Tanzania, about 10%) and Samburu National Reserve (Kenya, about 10%).
Same order: Passeriformes
The closest relatives of the Mouse-colored Penduline-Tit that you can see in Tsavo West National Park (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are Superb Starling (about 70%), White-browed Sparrow-Weaver (about 60%) and Fork-tailed Drongo (about 60%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Mouse-colored Penduline-Tit is recorded against all the birds logged in Tsavo West National Park (16 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.
