Turnix sylvaticus
Silhouette: PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10%
The common buttonquail (Turnix sylvaticus), also called Kurrichane buttonquail and Andalusian hemipode, is a buttonquail, one of a small family of birds that resemble but are not closely related to the true quails. The common buttonquail was formally described and illustrated in 1789 by the French botanist René Louiche Desfontaines under the binomial name Tetrao sylvaticus. The specific epithet sylvaticus is Latin meaning "of the woods". It is now placed in the genus Turnix that was named in 1840 by Pierre Joseph Bonnaterre.
Nine subspecies are recognised: Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kidepo Valley National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 2 | Queen Elizabeth National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 3 | Mkomazi National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 4 | Ruaha National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 5 | Hwange National Park | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 6 | Tsavo East National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 7 | Kafue National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 8 | Tsavo West National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 9 | Masai Mara National Reserve | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 10 | Samburu National Reserve | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 11 | Kruger National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 12 | Moremi Game Reserve | 🇧🇼 Botswana | |
| 13 | Nairobi National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 14 | Serengeti National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 15 | Bali Barat National Park | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 16 | Ngorongoro Conservation Area | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 17 | Tarangire National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 18 | Chobe National Park | 🇧🇼 Botswana |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Phnom Penh | 🇰🇭 Cambodia |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Common Buttonquail sighting in Kruger National Park on a given day, based on 177 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 285th most-seen of the 464 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Common Buttonquail in Kruger National Park on a given day, against under 5% in February to December, the lowest months. That is one of Kruger National Park's wettest months, with about 95 mm of rain against almost none in August.
Between 6 and 9 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Common Buttonquail sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
11th of 18
Of the 18 parks where we can rate Common Buttonquail sightings, Kruger National Park ranks 11th at under 5%. The best odds are in Kidepo Valley National Park (Uganda, about 10%), Queen Elizabeth National Park (Uganda, about 10%) and Mkomazi National Park (Tanzania, about 10%).
Same order: Charadriiformes
The closest relatives of the Common Buttonquail that you can see in Kruger National Park (order Charadriiformes, Shorebirds and Allies) are Blacksmith Lapwing (about 70%), Water Thick-knee (about 40%) and African Jacana (about 40%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Common Buttonquail is recorded against all the birds logged in Kruger National Park (177 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.
