Cinnyris talatala
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The white-bellied sunbird (Cinnyris talatala), also known as the white-breasted sunbird, is a species of bird in the family Nectariniidae. It is found in Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Occurs from Angola to southern Tanzania south to southern Africa, where it is common to locally abundant across northern Namibia, northern and south-eastern Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Eswatini and north-eastern South Africa. It generally prefers semi-arid savanna woodland, such as Acacia, bushwillow (Combretum) and riparian thickets, Zambezi teak (Baikiaea plurijuga) and mixed miombo (Brachystegia) woodland.
It mainly eats nectar supplemented with arthropods, often joining mixed-species foraging flocks in the day, along with other sunbirds at large sources of nectar. In the late afternoon it regularly hawks insects aerially and gleans invertebrates from foliage.
The following food items have been recorded in its diet: * Arthropods insects aphids ants grasshoppers (Orthoptera) moths (Lepidoptera) spiders The nest (see image... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | uMkhuze Game Reserve | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | Gonarezhou National Park | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 3 | Waterberg Plateau Park | 🇳🇦 Namibia | |
| 4 | Kruger National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 5 | Mana Pools National Park | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 6 | Lower Zambezi National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 7 | Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 8 | Pilanesberg National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 9 | Etosha National Park | 🇳🇦 Namibia | |
| 10 | Chobe National Park | 🇧🇼 Botswana | |
| 11 | Kafue National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 12 | South Luangwa National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 13 | Hwange National Park | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 14 | Moremi Game Reserve | 🇧🇼 Botswana | |
| 15 | Liwonde National Park | 🇲🇼 Malawi | |
| 16 | iSimangaliso Wetland Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 17 | Gorongosa National Park | 🇲🇿 Mozambique |
Likely
About 60% of wildlife watchers report a White-breasted Sunbird sighting in uMkhuze Game Reserve on a given day, based on 390 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 15th most-seen of the 283 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
October
In that month about 80% of wildlife watchers report a White-breasted Sunbird in uMkhuze Game Reserve on a given day, against about 20% in February, the lowest month.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most White-breasted Sunbird sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 17 parks where we can rate White-breasted Sunbird sightings, uMkhuze Game Reserve has the highest daily chance: about 60%. Next come Gonarezhou National Park (Zimbabwe, about 50%) and Waterberg Plateau Park (Namibia, about 50%). All parks ranked.
Same genus: Cinnyris
The closest relatives of the White-breasted Sunbird that you can see in uMkhuze Game Reserve (genus Cinnyris, Cinnyris Sunbirds) are Purple-banded Sunbird (about 40%), Neergaard's Sunbird (about 20%) and Mariqua Sunbird (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the White-breasted Sunbird is recorded against all the birds logged in uMkhuze Game Reserve (390 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.
