White-breasted Sunbird

White-breasted Sunbird

Cinnyris talatala

Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic

LCLeast ConcernNTVUENCR
Daily sighting probability ~50% · Likely
at Waterberg Plateau Park

In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%

65 Verified sightings at Waterberg Plateau Park From 2019 to 2026
4,997 In all 17 parks
August Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the White-breasted Sunbird

The white-bellied sunbird (Cinnyris talatala), also known as the white-breasted sunbird, is a species of bird in the family Nectariniidae. It is found in Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Occurs from Angola to southern Tanzania south to southern Africa, where it is common to locally abundant across northern Namibia, northern and south-eastern Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Eswatini and north-eastern South Africa. It generally prefers semi-arid savanna woodland, such as Acacia, bushwillow (Combretum) and riparian thickets, Zambezi teak (Baikiaea plurijuga) and mixed miombo (Brachystegia) woodland.

It mainly eats nectar supplemented with arthropods, often joining mixed-species foraging flocks in the day, along with other sunbirds at large sources of nectar. In the late afternoon it regularly hawks insects aerially and gleans invertebrates from foliage.

The following food items have been recorded in its diet: * Arthropods insects aphids ants grasshoppers (Orthoptera) moths (Lepidoptera) spiders The nest (see image... Wikipedia →

Sounds

Call0:23

South Africa · 2026

© JJSUN · XC1080051 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Song1:13

South Africa · 2025

© Bobby Wilcox · XC1038568 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Subsong0:37

South Africa · 2020

© Nature Sounds by Simply Birding · XC575172 · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 uMkhuze Game Reserve 🇿🇦 South Africa
~60%
2 Gonarezhou National Park 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe
~50%
3 Waterberg Plateau Park 🇳🇦 Namibia
~50%
4 Kruger National Park 🇿🇦 South Africa
~30%
5 Mana Pools National Park 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe
~30%
6 Lower Zambezi National Park 🇿🇲 Zambia
~20%
7 Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park 🇿🇦 South Africa
~20%
8 Pilanesberg National Park 🇿🇦 South Africa
~20%
9 Etosha National Park 🇳🇦 Namibia
~20%
10 Chobe National Park 🇧🇼 Botswana
~20%
11 Kafue National Park 🇿🇲 Zambia
~20%
12 South Luangwa National Park 🇿🇲 Zambia
~10%
13 Hwange National Park 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe
~10%
14 Moremi Game Reserve 🇧🇼 Botswana
~10%
15 Liwonde National Park 🇲🇼 Malawi
~10%
16 iSimangaliso Wetland Park 🇿🇦 South Africa
<5%
17 Gorongosa National Park 🇲🇿 Mozambique
<5%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Pretoria 🇿🇦 South Africa
~40%
2 Johannesburg 🇿🇦 South Africa
~30%
3 Durban 🇿🇦 South Africa
~20%
4 Maputo 🇲🇿 Mozambique
~10%
5 Harare 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe
~10%
6 Lusaka 🇿🇲 Zambia
~10%

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a White-breasted Sunbird in Waterberg Plateau Park?

Likely

About 50% of wildlife watchers report a White-breasted Sunbird sighting in Waterberg Plateau Park on a given day, based on 65 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 17th most-seen of the 118 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a White-breasted Sunbird in Waterberg Plateau Park?

August

In that month about 60% of wildlife watchers report a White-breasted Sunbird in Waterberg Plateau Park on a given day, against about 30% in July, the lowest month. That is one of Waterberg Plateau Park's driest months, with almost no rain against 110 mm in January. April and June have too few records to rate.

What time of day is best to see a White-breasted Sunbird?

Between 10 am and 1 pm

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most White-breasted 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.

Is Waterberg Plateau Park the best place to see a White-breasted Sunbird?

3rd of 17

Of the 17 parks where we can rate White-breasted Sunbird sightings, Waterberg Plateau Park ranks 3rd at about 50%. The best odds are in uMkhuze Game Reserve (South Africa, about 60%) and Gonarezhou National Park (Zimbabwe, about 50%). All parks ranked.

Which relatives of the White-breasted Sunbird live in Waterberg Plateau Park?

Same genus: Cinnyris

The closest relatives of the White-breasted Sunbird that you can see in Waterberg Plateau Park (genus Cinnyris, Cinnyris Sunbirds) are Mariqua Sunbird (about 30%) and Dusky Sunbird (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.

Where does the White-breasted Sunbird sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the White-breasted Sunbird is recorded against all the birds logged in Waterberg Plateau Park (65 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.

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