This small wetland species is found throughout Africa in suitable wetland margins. In Namibia, it occurs mainly along the Okavango and Zambezi rivers and their associated backwaters and floodplains. Birds are also recorded from the Tsumkwe Pans and as a vagrant (once) from the Kaokoveld. It occupied 9,500 km2 in SABAP1 atlas data, of which an area of 1,200 km2 is protected. Present atlas data from SABAP2 (December 2014) show a similar pattern of occurrence with an additional record east of Etosha.