Pterocles namaqua
Silhouette: PhyloPic
In 3 days ~80% in a week >90%
The Namaqua sandgrouse (Pterocles namaqua), is a species of ground-dwelling bird in the sandgrouse family. It is found in arid regions of south-western Africa. The Namaqua sandgrouse 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 all the grouse like birds in the genus Tetrao and coined the binomial name Tetrao namaqua. Gmelin based his description on the "Namaqua grous" that had been described in 1783 by the English ornithologist John Latham in his A General Synopsis of Birds. The Namaqua sandgrouse is now placed with 13 other species in genus Pterocles that was introduced in 1815 by the Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek pteron meaning "wing" with -klēs meaning "notable" or "splendid". The specific epithet namaqua is from Namaqualand, a region in Namibia and South Africa, the type locality. The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.
The sandgrouse is a medium-sized bird with a plump body, small head and short legs. It grows to a length of about 28 centimetres (11 in)... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | Etosha National Park | 🇳🇦 Namibia | |
| 3 | Namib-Naukluft National Park | 🇳🇦 Namibia | |
| 4 | De Hoop Nature Reserve | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 5 | Moremi Game Reserve | 🇧🇼 Botswana | |
| 6 | Chobe National Park | 🇧🇼 Botswana |
Likely
About 40% of wildlife watchers report a Namaqua Sandgrouse sighting in Etosha National Park on a given day, based on 839 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 20th most-seen of the 260 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 80%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August
In that month about 60% of wildlife watchers report a Namaqua Sandgrouse in Etosha National Park on a given day, against about 20% in February and March, the lowest months. That is one of Etosha National Park's driest months, with almost no rain against 75 mm in January.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Namaqua Sandgrouse 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 6 parks where we can rate Namaqua Sandgrouse sightings, Etosha National Park ranks 2nd at about 40%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (South Africa, about 40%).
Same genus: Pterocles
The closest relatives of the Namaqua Sandgrouse that you can see in Etosha National Park (genus Pterocles, Typical Sandgrouse) are Double-banded Sandgrouse (about 20%) and Burchell's Sandgrouse (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Namaqua Sandgrouse is recorded against all the birds logged in Etosha National Park (839 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.
