Cecropis cucullata
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The greater striped swallow (Cecropis cucullata) is a large swallow that is native to Africa south of the equator. The greater striped swallow was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1780 in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux from a specimen collected in the Cape of Good Hope district of South Africa. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text. Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial name Hirundo cucullata in his catalogue of the Planches Enluminées. The greater striped swallow is now one of nine species that are placed in the genus Cecropis that was introduced by the German zoologist Friedrich Boie in 1826. The species is monotypic and no subspecies are recognised. The name of the genus is from the Ancient Greek Kekropis "Athenian woman". The specific epithet cucullata is from the Late Latin cucullatus meaning "hooded". Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | De Hoop Nature Reserve | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | Golden Gate Highlands National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | Garden Route National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 4 | Addo Elephant National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 5 | Pilanesberg National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 6 | Etosha National Park | 🇳🇦 Namibia | |
| 7 | Table Mountain National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 8 | Waterberg Plateau Park | 🇳🇦 Namibia | |
| 9 | Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 10 | uMkhuze Game Reserve | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 11 | Namib-Naukluft National Park | 🇳🇦 Namibia | |
| 12 | West Coast National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 13 | Kruger National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 14 | Chobe National Park | 🇧🇼 Botswana | |
| 15 | iSimangaliso Wetland Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 16 | Moremi Game Reserve | 🇧🇼 Botswana |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Johannesburg | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | Pretoria | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | Cape Town | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 4 | Harare | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Greater Striped-Swallow sighting in West Coast National Park on a given day, based on 26 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 148th most-seen of the 192 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
November
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Greater Striped-Swallow in West Coast National Park on a given day, against under 5% in December to October, the lowest months.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Greater Striped-Swallow sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
12th of 16
Of the 16 parks where we can rate Greater Striped-Swallow sightings, West Coast National Park ranks 12th at under 5%. The best odds are in De Hoop Nature Reserve (South Africa, about 50%), Golden Gate Highlands National Park (South Africa, about 30%) and Garden Route National Park (South Africa, about 20%).
Same family: Hirundinidae
The closest relatives of the Greater Striped-Swallow that you can see in West Coast National Park (family Hirundinidae, Swallows and Martins) are White-throated Swallow (about 60%), Rock Martin (about 40%) and Pearl-breasted Swallow (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Greater Striped-Swallow is recorded against all the birds logged in West Coast National Park (26 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.
