Southern African Bird Rarities

Track the birds that rarely touch down.

Rarity Radar is a public service for twitchers and researchers, blending community sightings with open range context to keep rare birds visible and searchable.

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Live map

Current verified alerts

Switch between international vagrants and local out-of-range sightings to update the map.

Updated 5 mins ago

Current verified alerts

Live

Madagascar Pond-Heron

iSimangaliso Wetland Park · 2 hours ago

VerifiedRarity 92

Seychelles Tern

Pemba Bay · Yesterday

VerifiedRarity 88

Eurasian Curlew

West Coast Lagoon · Yesterday

VerifiedRarity 83

All records

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Recent sightings

Species	Location	Observed	Type
Madagascar Pond-Heron	iSimangaliso Wetland Park	08:10, 12 Oct	International
Sooty Falcon	Skeleton Coast	17:40, 10 Oct	International
Rosy Starling	Okavango Delta	06:25, 9 Oct	Local

How it works

From alert to evidence-ready record

Built for the public record, the data stays lightweight for twitchers and structured enough for researchers.

Range context

Compare sightings to expected ranges and seasonal movement data.

Vagrant watch

Track international arrivals that land far outside norms.

Research-ready notes

Keep links, photos, and citations alongside each alert.

Share a sighting

Keep the public rarity record up to date.

Submissions from twitchers and researchers help the wider community track vagrants, out-of-range locals, and seasonal shifts.

Submit a sighting