Odontophorus gujanensis
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
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 |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Marbled Wood Quail sighting in Corcovado National Park on a given day, based on 185 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 157th most-seen of the 332 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February–May, July–August and November
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Marbled Wood Quail in Corcovado National Park on a given day, against under 5% in June, September–October and December–January, the lowest months.
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.
Among the best
Of the 12 parks where we can rate Marbled Wood Quail sightings, Corcovado National Park ranks 3rd at about 10%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Darién National Park (Panama, about 10%) and Brownsberg Nature Park (Suriname, about 10%).
Same order: Galliformes
The closest relatives of the Marbled Wood Quail that you can see in Corcovado National Park (order Galliformes, Landfowl) are Great Curassow (about 40%), Crested Guan (about 30%) and Gray-headed Chachalaca (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Marbled Wood Quail is recorded against all the birds logged in Corcovado National Park (185 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.
