Chalcomitra senegalensis
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
The scarlet-chested sunbird (Chalcomitra senegalensis) is a species of bird in the family Nectariniidae. It is found in many areas of Sub-Saharan Africa, and from South Sudan to South Africa. It is found in Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Ivory Coast, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
The scarlet-chested sunbird is similar to Hunter's sunbird in appearance, with adult males having a characteristic red–scarlet coloured breast and an iridescent green patch on top of its head. The female is dark brown with no supercilium. It inhabits woodland and gardens, at elevations of up to 2,400 metres (7,900 ft). The bird is around 13–15 centimetres (5.1–5.9 in) in length, with males having a weight of 7.5–17.2 grams (0.26–0.61 oz) and females weighing 6.8–15.3 grams (0.24–0.54 oz).
In 1760, the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zanzibar City | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 2 | Dar es-Salaam | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 3 | Kigali | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 4 | Kampala | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 5 | Mombasa | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 6 | Abuja | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | |
| 7 | Ouagadougou | 🇧🇫 Burkina Faso | |
| 8 | Lilongwe | 🇲🇼 Malawi | |
| 9 | Harare | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 10 | Nairobi | 🇰🇪 Kenya |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | London Zoo | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Scarlet-chested Sunbird 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 163rd 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.
May
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Scarlet-chested Sunbird in Virunga National Park on a given day, against under 5% in March–April and November–January, the lowest months. That is one of Virunga National Park's wettest months, with about 250 mm of rain against 15 mm in January.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Scarlet-chested 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.
37th of 46
Of the 46 parks where we can rate Scarlet-chested Sunbird sightings, Virunga National Park ranks 37th at about 10%. The best odds are in Nairobi National Park (Kenya, about 40%), Selous Game Reserve (Tanzania, about 40%) and Gonarezhou National Park (Zimbabwe, about 40%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Scarlet-chested Sunbird 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.
