Pternistis erckelii
In 3 days ~60% in a week ~90%
Erckel's spurfowl (Pternistis erckelii), also known as Erckel's francolin, is a species of game bird in the family Phasianidae. Erckel's spurfowl was described in 1935 by the German naturalist Eduard Rüppell from specimens collected in the mountains of Ethiopia. He coined the binomial name Perdix erckelii. The specific epithet was chosen by Rüppell to honour his assistant, Theodor Erckel (1811–1897), who had helped with the collection of specimens. The species is now placed in the genus Pternistis that was introduced by the German naturalist Johann Georg Wagler in 1832. Erckel's spurfowl is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised. A phylogenetic study published in 2019 found that Erckel's spurfowl was most closely related to the Djibouti spurfowl.
The largest African spurfowl, Erckel's spurfowl is 38–43 cm (15–17 in) in length, with females being slightly smaller than males. Males grow to 1.05–1.59 kg (2.3–3.5 lb), based on a sample of three specimens, and a single female specimen was observed to weigh 1.136 kg (2.50 lb). Males and females have similar plumage. The body is covered with stripes of chestnut-color, on its upperside and underside. It has...
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hawaii Volcanoes National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zoo Koki (Parque zoológico y botánico) | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 2 | Avifauna | 🇪🇸 Spain |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report an Erckel's Francolin sighting in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on a given day, based on 269 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 19th most-seen of the 29 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 60%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January and May
In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report an Erckel's Francolin in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on a given day, against about 20% in February and June–September, the lowest months.
Between 4 and 7 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Erckel's Francolin sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, in our data
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Erckel's Francolin sightings: about 30% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Erckel's Francolin is recorded against all the birds logged in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (269 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.
