Pternistis bicalcaratus
Silhouette: Amanda Kuhlman · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The double-spurred spurfowl (Pternistis bicalcaratus) is a gamebird in the pheasant family Phasianidae of the order Galliformes, gallinaceous birds. Like most spurfowls, it is restricted to Africa. It is a resident breeder in tropical West Africa, but there is a small and declining isolated population in Morocco.
In 1760, the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the double-spurred spurfowl in his Ornithologie, based on a specimen that had been collected in Senegal. He used the French name "La Perdrix du Sénégal" and the Latin "Perdix Senegalensis." Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. When in 1766, the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson. One of these was the double-spurred spurfowl. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Tetrao bicalcaratus and cited Brisson's work. The specific epithet bicalcaratus combines the Latin bi meaning "two" and calcaris meaning "spur". The species...
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Niokolo-Koba National Park | 🇸🇳 Senegal | |
| 2 | Mole National Park | 🇬🇭 Ghana | |
| 3 | Saloum Delta National Park | 🇸🇳 Senegal | |
| 4 | Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary | 🇸🇳 Senegal | |
| 5 | Kakum National Park | 🇬🇭 Ghana |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Abuja | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | |
| 2 | Ouagadougou | 🇧🇫 Burkina Faso | |
| 3 | Freetown | 🇸🇱 Sierra Leone | |
| 4 | Serrekunda | 🇬🇲 Gambia | |
| 5 | Accra | 🇬🇭 Ghana | |
| 6 | Maiduguri | 🇳🇬 Nigeria |
Likely
About 50% of wildlife watchers report a Double-spurred Francolin sighting in Mole National Park on a given day, based on 265 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 26th most-seen of the 266 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April
In that month about 70% of wildlife watchers report a Double-spurred Francolin in Mole National Park on a given day, against about 30% in December, the lowest month. July has too few records to rate.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Double-spurred Francolin sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
2nd of 5
Of the 5 parks where we can rate Double-spurred Francolin sightings, Mole National Park ranks 2nd at about 50%. The best odds are in Niokolo-Koba National Park (Senegal, about 60%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Double-spurred Francolin is recorded against all the birds logged in Mole National Park (265 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.
