Promerops cafer
Silhouette: Campbell Fleming · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5%
The Cape sugarbird (Promerops cafer) is one of the eight bird species endemic to the Fynbos biome of the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. The Cape sugarbird was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. He placed it with the bee-eaters in the genus Merops and coined the binomial name Merops cafer. Linnaeus specified the type locality as Ethiopia but this was changed to the Cape of Good Hope by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760. The Cape sugarbird is now placed in the genus Promerops that was introduced for the species by Brisson in 1760. The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.
The Cape sugarbird is a grey-brown bird that is easily recognisable by a spot of yellow under its tail and the very long tail feathers present in males. The male is 34–44 cm long, and the shorter-tailed, shorter-billed, and paler breasted female 25–29 cm long. Another characteristic of the Cape sugarbird is the sound it makes when it flies. The main flight feathers are arranged in such a way that when the bird beats its wings, a frrt-frrt sound is made... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Table Mountain National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | De Hoop Nature Reserve | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | Garden Route National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 4 | West Coast National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cape Town | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Cape Sugarbird sighting in West Coast National Park on a given day, based on 11 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 182nd most-seen of the 192 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Cape Sugarbird in West Coast National Park on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Cape Sugarbird sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all 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 Cape Sugarbird sightings, West Coast National Park ranks 4th at under 5%. The best odds are in Table Mountain National Park (South Africa, about 30%), De Hoop Nature Reserve (South Africa, about 20%) and Garden Route National Park (South Africa, under 5%).
Same order: Passeriformes
The closest relatives of the Cape Sugarbird that you can see in West Coast National Park (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are Cape Wagtail (about 70%), Cape Bulbul (about 70%) and Karoo Prinia (about 70%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Cape Sugarbird is recorded against all the birds logged in West Coast National Park (11 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.
