Pternistis capensis
Silhouette: Amanda Kuhlman · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The Cape spurfowl or Cape francolin (Pternistis capensis) is a gamebird in the pheasant family Phasianidae. It is endemic to southern Africa, where it is the largest francolin. It occurs in the Western Cape province of South Africa, and locally northwards to southern Namibia. It has adapted to alien vegetation and a variety of human-altered habitats, but scrubby roosting and nesting space is a prerequisite. The species is not threatened.
The English ornithologist John Latham described the Cape spurfowl in his A General Synopsis of Birds in 1783. He used the English name "Cape partridge", but did not introduce a Latin name. Six years later in 1789, when the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin updated Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae, he included a terse description of the Cape spurfowl, coined the binomial name Tetrao capensis and cited Latham's work. The specific epithet capensis is the Latin for the Cape of Good Hope. The species is now placed in the genus Pternistis that was introduced by the German naturalist Johann Georg Wagler in 1832. The Cape spurfowl is considered as monotypic: no subspecies are recognised. Its closest relative is the Natal spurfowl, which... Wikipedia →
Call0:08
South Africa · 2024
© Nick Talbot · XC944472 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Song0:12
South Africa · 2017
© Peter Boesman · XC392672 · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Recording0:19
South Africa · 2026
© Marion Maclean · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Coast National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | De Hoop Nature Reserve | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | Table Mountain National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 4 | Garden Route National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cape Town | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
Likely
About 60% of wildlife watchers report a Cape Spurfowl sighting in De Hoop Nature Reserve on a given day, based on 406 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 9th most-seen of the 189 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April
In that month about 80% of wildlife watchers report a Cape Spurfowl in De Hoop Nature Reserve on a given day, against about 50% in January, the lowest month. June has too few records to rate.
Between 3 and 6 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Cape Spurfowl sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
2nd of 4
Of the 4 parks where we can rate Cape Spurfowl sightings, De Hoop Nature Reserve ranks 2nd at about 60%. The best odds are in West Coast National Park (South Africa, about 80%).
Same family: Phasianidae
The closest relatives of the Cape Spurfowl that you can see in De Hoop Nature Reserve (family Phasianidae, Pheasants, Grouse, and Allies) are Grey-winged Francolin (about 20%) and Common Quail (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Cape Spurfowl is recorded against all the birds logged in De Hoop Nature Reserve (406 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.
