Turnix sylvaticus
Silhouette: PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~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 Nairobi National Park on a given day, based on 28 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 306th most-seen of the 371 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Common Buttonquail in Nairobi National Park on a given day, against under 5% in September to July, the lowest months. That is one of Nairobi National Park's driest months, with about 20 mm of rain against 180 mm in April.
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.
13th of 18
Of the 18 parks where we can rate Common Buttonquail sightings, Nairobi National Park ranks 13th 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 Nairobi National Park (order Charadriiformes, Shorebirds and Allies) are Blacksmith Lapwing (about 60%), Spur-winged Lapwing (about 60%) and Crowned Lapwing (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 Nairobi National Park (28 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.
