Apalis personata
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
The mountain masked apalis (Apalis personata), also known as the black-faced apalis, is a species of bird in the family Cisticolidae. It is native to the Albertine Rift montane forests. It was first described in 1902. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nyungwe National Park | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 2 | Bwindi Impenetrable National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 3 | Volcanoes National Park | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 4 | Virunga National Park | 🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of the Congo |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Black-faced Apalis sighting in Virunga National Park on a given day, based on 70 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 53rd most-seen of the 316 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Black-faced Apalis in Virunga National Park on a given day, against about 10% in February, April–May, August and October, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Black-faced Apalis sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
4th of 4
Of the 4 parks where we can rate Black-faced Apalis sightings, Virunga National Park ranks 4th at about 20%. The best odds are in Nyungwe National Park (Rwanda, about 50%), Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (Uganda, about 30%) and Volcanoes National Park (Rwanda, about 20%). All parks ranked.
Same genus: Apalis
The closest relatives of the Black-faced Apalis that you can see in Virunga National Park (genus Apalis, Apalises) are Chestnut-throated Apalis (about 10%) and Yellow-breasted Apalis (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Black-faced Apalis is recorded against all the birds logged in Virunga National Park (70 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.
