Fulica cristata
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
The red-knobbed coot or crested coot (Fulica cristata) is a member of the rail and crake bird family, the Rallidae. It is a resident breeder across much of Africa and in southernmost Spain on freshwater lakes and ponds. It builds a nest of dead reeds near the water's edge or more commonly afloat, laying about 7 eggs (or more in good conditions).
The red-knobbed coot 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 other coots in the genus Fulica and coined the binomial name Fulica cristata. Gmelin based his account on the earlier descriptions by the French naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon and the English ornithologist John Latham, neither of whom had included a binomial name. They gave the type locality as Madagascar. The genus Fulica had been introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. The genus name is the Latin word for a Eurasian coot. The specific epithet cristata is from Latin cristatus meaning "crested" or "plumed". The species is monotypic: no subspecies are... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | De Hoop Nature Reserve | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | Golden Gate Highlands National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | West Coast National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 4 | Addo Elephant National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 5 | Bale Mountains National Park | 🇪🇹 Ethiopia | |
| 6 | Ngorongoro Conservation Area | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 7 | Garden Route National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 8 | Amboseli National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 9 | Table Mountain National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 10 | Arusha National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 11 | Lake Nakuru National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 12 | Doñana National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 13 | iSimangaliso Wetland Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 14 | Aberdare National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 15 | Pilanesberg National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 16 | Etosha National Park | 🇳🇦 Namibia | |
| 17 | Serengeti National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 18 | Tarangire National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 19 | Nairobi National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 20 | Kruger National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 21 | Masai Mara National Reserve | 🇰🇪 Kenya |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | L'Oceanogràfic | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 2 | World of Birds Wildlife Sanctuary and Monkey Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Red-knobbed Coot sighting in Lake Nakuru National Park on a given day, based on 110 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 165th most-seen of the 369 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September and December–January
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Red-knobbed Coot in Lake Nakuru National Park on a given day, against under 5% in April–June and August, the lowest months.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Red-knobbed Coot sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
11th of 21
Of the 21 parks where we can rate Red-knobbed Coot sightings, Lake Nakuru National Park ranks 11th at about 10%. The best odds are in De Hoop Nature Reserve (South Africa, about 50%), Golden Gate Highlands National Park (South Africa, about 50%) and West Coast National Park (South Africa, about 50%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Rallidae
The closest relatives of the Red-knobbed Coot that you can see in Lake Nakuru National Park (family Rallidae, Rails, Gallinules, and Coots) are Common Moorhen (about 10%) and Black Crake (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Red-knobbed Coot is recorded against all the birds logged in Lake Nakuru National Park (110 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.
