Cinnyris regius
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%
The regal sunbird (Cinnyris regius) is a species of bird in the family Nectariniidae. It is native to the Albertine Rift montane forests. The regal sunbird is a small species. The adult male has head and upper parts an iridescent golden-green, dark wings and tail and a boldly-marked red and yellow breast and belly. The adult female has dull olive upper parts, with yellowish, faintly streaked underparts. The male is distinctive, but the female could be confused with the female Rockefeller's sunbird (Cinnyris rockefelleri), though this has a paler throat. The female Rwenzori double-collared sunbird (Cinnyris stuhlmanni) and the female northern double-collared sunbird (Cinnyris reichenowi) are also similar, but these have greener upper parts and yellower underparts; another similar species is the variable sunbird (Cinnyris venustus), but the regal can be recognised by the upper parts being more olive and the underparts a more uniform yellowish-olive.
The regal sunbird's range spans the entire Albertine Rift montane forests (from Uganda to Tanzania), where it occurs between 1,500 and 3,100 m (4,900 and 10,200 ft) above sea level. Its habitat... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nyungwe National Park | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 2 | Volcanoes National Park | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 3 | Bwindi Impenetrable National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 4 | Virunga National Park | 🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of the Congo |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Regal Sunbird sighting in Virunga National Park on a given day, based on 86 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 42nd most-seen of the 316 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 50%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January, March, June and September
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Regal Sunbird in Virunga National Park on a given day, against about 10% in April–May, July–August and October–December, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Regal Sunbird 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 Regal Sunbird sightings, Virunga National Park ranks 4th at about 20%. The best odds are in Nyungwe National Park (Rwanda, about 60%), Volcanoes National Park (Rwanda, about 30%) and Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (Uganda, about 30%). All parks ranked.
Same genus: Cinnyris
The closest relatives of the Regal Sunbird that you can see in Virunga National Park (genus Cinnyris, Cinnyris Sunbirds) are Stuhlmann's Sunbird (about 20%), Variable Sunbird (about 20%) and Red-chested Sunbird (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Regal Sunbird is recorded against all the birds logged in Virunga National Park (86 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.
