Turnix sylvaticus
Silhouette: PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
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 Masai Mara National Reserve on a given day, based on 71 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 257th most-seen of the 398 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Common Buttonquail in Masai Mara National Reserve on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
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.
9th of 18
Of the 18 parks where we can rate Common Buttonquail sightings, Masai Mara National Reserve ranks 9th 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 Masai Mara National Reserve (order Charadriiformes, Shorebirds and Allies) are Crowned Lapwing (about 50%), African Wattled Lapwing (about 40%) and Spur-winged Lapwing (about 30%), 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 Masai Mara National Reserve (71 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.
