Cisticola chubbi
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~70% in a week ~90%
Chubb's cisticola (Cisticola chubbi) is a species of bird in the family Cisticolidae. It is native to the Western High Plateau, the Albertine Rift montane forests and the East African montane forests. There are four subspecies:
It is territorial. It spends most of its time in dense vegetation. In duets, males trill and females whistle. Females produce longer and lower-pitched notes. Chubb's cisticolas also sometimes sing in choruses of up to five; this is most common at the end of breeding season. Solo singing is very rare.
Duets and choruses are likely primarily for the purpose of territorial defense. They are always done while in sight of the other participating bird(s)—less than 1 meter apart. They perform dance-like movements such as moving their tails and flapping their wings to make snapping noises.
They sing from elevated places. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Volcanoes National Park | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 2 | Nyungwe National Park | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 3 | Bwindi Impenetrable National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 4 | Virunga National Park | 🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of the Congo | |
| 5 | Akagera National Park | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 6 | Kibale National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 7 | Queen Elizabeth National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kigali | 🇷🇼 Rwanda |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Chubb's Cisticola sighting in Virunga National Park on a given day, based on 149 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 8th most-seen of the 316 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 70%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
December
In that month about 60% of wildlife watchers report a Chubb's Cisticola in Virunga National Park on a given day, against about 10% in April and October, the lowest months. That is one of Virunga National Park's driest months, with about 80 mm of rain against 250 mm in May.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Chubb's Cisticola 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 7
Of the 7 parks where we can rate Chubb's Cisticola sightings, Virunga National Park ranks 4th at about 30%. The best odds are in Volcanoes National Park (Rwanda, about 80%), Nyungwe National Park (Rwanda, about 70%) and Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (Uganda, about 50%). All parks ranked.
Same genus: Cisticola
The closest relatives of the Chubb's Cisticola that you can see in Virunga National Park (genus Cisticola, Cisticolas) are Zitting Cisticola (about 10%), Winding Cisticola (about 10%) and Red-faced Cisticola (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Chubb's Cisticola is recorded against all the birds logged in Virunga National Park (149 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.
