Red Spurfowl

Red Spurfowl

Galloperdix spadicea

Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic

LCLeast ConcernNTVUENCR Endemic
Daily sighting probability ~20% · Possible
at Periyar National Park

In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%

562 Verified sightings at Periyar National Park From 2019 to 2026
1,666 In all 8 parks
February Best month
🌅 Crepuscular When it's spotted

About the Red Spurfowl

The red spurfowl (Galloperdix spadicea) is a member of the pheasant family and is endemic to India. It is a bird of forests, and is quite secretive despite its size. It has a distinctive call and is often hard to see except for a few seconds when it flushes from the undergrowth. It appears reddish and like a long-tailed partridge. The bare skin around the eye is reddish. The legs of both males and females have one or two spurs, which give them their name.

The red spurfowl 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 grouse like birds in the genus Tetrao and coined the binomial name Tetrao spadiceus. Gmelin based his description on Pierre Sonnerat's "La perdrix rouge de Madagascar". Gmelin specified the type locality as Madagascar. This is an error, the species is found in India. The red spurfowl is now placed with painted spurfowl and the Sri Lanka spurfowl in the genus Galloperdix that was introduced in 1845 by the English zoologist Edward Blyth. The genus name combines the Latin word gallus for a "farmyard cock" with perdix meaning "partridge... Wikipedia →

Sounds

Alarm call0:17

India · 2021

© RAVEENDRAN K C · XC668357 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Call0:11

India · 2021

© D Prem Prakash Garg · XC634745 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Aberrant0:12

India · 2021

© Jagdish Gopal Paithankar · XC623939 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Periyar National Park 🇮🇳 India
~20%
2 Kanha National Park 🇮🇳 India
~10%
3 Nagarhole National Park 🇮🇳 India
~10%
4 Bandhavgarh National Park 🇮🇳 India
~10%
5 Mudumalai National Park 🇮🇳 India
~10%
6 Satpura National Park 🇮🇳 India
~10%
7 Bandipur National Park 🇮🇳 India
~10%
8 Eravikulam National Park 🇮🇳 India
<5%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Thrissur 🇮🇳 India
~10%
2 Mumbai 🇮🇳 India
<5%
3 Kozhikode 🇮🇳 India
<5%
4 Bhubaneshwar 🇮🇳 India
<5%
5 Ponnani 🇮🇳 India
<5%
6 Kochi 🇮🇳 India
<5%

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Red Spurfowl in Periyar National Park?

Possible

About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Red Spurfowl sighting in Periyar National Park on a given day, based on 562 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 79th most-seen of the 227 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Red Spurfowl in Periyar National Park?

January and February

In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Red Spurfowl in Periyar National Park on a given day, against under 5% in August, the lowest month. Those are among Periyar National Park's driest months, with about 20 mm of rain a month against 410 mm in August.

What time of day is best to see a Red Spurfowl?

Between 3 and 6 am

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Red Spurfowl sightings with a recorded time, and about half of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is most active around dawn and dusk.

Is Periyar National Park the best place to see a Red Spurfowl?

Yes

Of the 8 parks where we can rate Red Spurfowl sightings, Periyar National Park has the highest daily chance: about 20%. Next come Kanha National Park (India, about 10%) and Nagarhole National Park (India, about 10%).

Where does the Red Spurfowl sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Red Spurfowl is recorded against all the birds logged in Periyar National Park (562 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.

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