Pterocles burchelli
Silhouette: PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
Burchell's sandgrouse (Pterocles burchelli) is a species of bird in the family Pteroclidae. It is found in arid and semi-arid regions of southern Africa. The name of this bird commemorates the English naturalist William John Burchell.
Burchell's sandgrouse is a plump bird about the size of a pigeon with a small head and short legs. The body is light brown, mottled with darker shades and white speckles. In males, the eye is surrounded by bare yellow skin and the cheeks and throat are pale grey. The male grows to about 25 cm (10 in) long and the female is a little smaller.
Burchell's sandgrouse is limited by water availability, like many species residing in desert environments. Adult sandgrouse increase gular fluttering and panting for evaporative cooling when approaching the upper critical limit of their thermal neutral zone around 43.8°C. Another adaptation that adult Burchell's sandgrouse have developed is the transport of water in body feathers from a water source back to the nest to water their chicks. Upon arriving at a water source, adult Burchell's sandgrouse first rub their bellies on dry ground to ruffle up their belly feathers, increasing the amount of water... Wikipedia →
Call0:04
Zimbabwe · 2024
© Dries Van de Loock · XC962506 · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Call0:54
Botswana · 2017
© Lynette Rudman · XC397231 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Recording0:16
Botswana · 2020
© Dewald du Plessis · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | Hwange National Park | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 3 | Etosha National Park | 🇳🇦 Namibia | |
| 4 | Moremi Game Reserve | 🇧🇼 Botswana | |
| 5 | Chobe National Park | 🇧🇼 Botswana |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Burchell's Sandgrouse sighting in Moremi Game Reserve on a given day, based on 133 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 136th most-seen of the 334 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
December and January
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Burchell's Sandgrouse in Moremi Game Reserve on a given day, against under 5% in March and November, the lowest months. Those are among Moremi Game Reserve's wettest months, with about 120 mm of rain a month against almost none in May.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Burchell's Sandgrouse sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
4th of 5
Of the 5 parks where we can rate Burchell's Sandgrouse sightings, Moremi Game Reserve ranks 4th at about 10%. The best odds are in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (South Africa, about 20%), Hwange National Park (Zimbabwe, about 20%) and Etosha National Park (Namibia, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Burchell's Sandgrouse is recorded against all the birds logged in Moremi Game Reserve (133 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.
