Bias musicus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
The black-and-white shrike-flycatcher (Bias musicus), also known as the black-and-white flycatcher or vanga flycatcher, is a species of passerine bird found in Africa. It was placed with the wattle-eyes and batises in the family Platysteiridae but is now considered to be more closely related to the helmetshrikes and woodshrikes.
It is found in Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forest, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, and subtropical or tropical moist montane forest.
Black-and-white shrike-flycatcher/vanga flycatcher – Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kibale National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 2 | Bwindi Impenetrable National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 3 | Semuliki National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 4 | Meru National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 5 | Virunga National Park | 🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of the Congo | |
| 6 | Mikumi National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 7 | Queen Elizabeth National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Black-and-white Shrike-flycatcher sighting in Virunga National Park on a given day, based on 33 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 136th most-seen of the 316 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April to June
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Black-and-white Shrike-flycatcher in Virunga National Park on a given day, against under 5% in August–September and November–March, the lowest months. Those are among Virunga National Park's wettest months, with about 210 mm of rain a month against 15 mm in January.
Between 6 and 9 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Black-and-white Shrike-flycatcher 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 7
Of the 7 parks where we can rate Black-and-white Shrike-flycatcher sightings, Virunga National Park ranks 5th at about 10%. The best odds are in Kibale National Park (Uganda, about 40%), Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (Uganda, about 20%) and Semuliki National Park (Uganda, about 10%).
Same family: Platysteiridae
The closest relatives of the Black-and-white Shrike-flycatcher that you can see in Virunga National Park (family Platysteiridae, Wattle-eyes and Batises) are Rwenzori Batis (about 20%), Brown-throated Wattle-eye (about 10%) and Chinspot Batis (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Black-and-white Shrike-flycatcher is recorded against all the birds logged in Virunga National Park (33 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.
