Odontophorus gujanensis
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The marbled wood quail (Odontophorus gujanensis), also known as the Amazonian wood quail, is a species of bird in the New World quail family. It has an extensive distribution in Central America and the northern part of South America. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.
The marbled wood quail was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the other quail like birds in the genus Tetrao and coined the binomial name Tetrao gujanensis. Gmelin based his description on the Comte de Buffon's "Le Tocro ou Perdrix de la Guyane" and John Latham's "Guiana partridge". The marbled wood quail is now placed with around 14 other species in the genus Odontophorus that was introduced in 1816 by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot. The genus name Odontophorus is from Ancient Greek meaning "bearing teeth", from odous "tooth" and pherō "to carry". The specific epithet gujanensis means "from the Guianas".
Eight subspecies are recognised: Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Darién National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 2 | Brownsberg Nature Park | 🇸🇷 Suriname | |
| 3 | Corcovado National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 4 | Carara National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 5 | Sierra de la Macarena National Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 6 | Amacayacu National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 7 | Yasuní National Park | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 8 | Piedras Blancas National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 9 | Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 10 | Chagres National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 11 | La Amistad International Park (Panama) | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 12 | Soberanía National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Marbled Wood Quail sighting in Carara National Park on a given day, based on 272 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 257th most-seen of the 414 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.
August
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Marbled Wood Quail in Carara National Park on a given day, against under 5% in September to July, the lowest months. That is one of Carara National Park's wettest months, with about 600 mm of rain against 35 mm in February.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Marbled Wood Quail sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
4th of 12
Of the 12 parks where we can rate Marbled Wood Quail sightings, Carara National Park ranks 4th at under 5%. The best odds are in Darién National Park (Panama, about 10%), Brownsberg Nature Park (Suriname, about 10%) and Corcovado National Park (Costa Rica, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Marbled Wood Quail is recorded against all the birds logged in Carara National Park (272 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.
