Ortygornis sephaena
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The crested francolin (Ortygornis sephaena) is a species of bird in the family Phasianidae. It is found in southern Africa. One of its subspecies, Ortygornis sephaena rovuma, is sometimes considered a separate species, Kirk's francolin.
Formerly, the crested francolin was classified in its own genus Dendroperdix, but phylogenetic analysis indicates that it groups with the grey francolin (O. pondicerianus) and swamp francolin (O. gularis). As a result, all three species were reclassified into the genus Ortygornis.
Ortygornis sephaena zambesiae (Mackworth-Praed, 1920) Crested Francolin - Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds Wikipedia →
Likely
About 50% of wildlife watchers report a Crested Francolin sighting in uMkhuze Game Reserve on a given day, based on 318 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 19th most-seen of the 283 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, August and October
In those months about 60% of wildlife watchers report a Crested Francolin in uMkhuze Game Reserve on a given day, against about 40% in December, the lowest month.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Crested Francolin sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
5th of 39
Of the 39 parks where we can rate Crested Francolin sightings, uMkhuze Game Reserve ranks 5th at about 50%. The best odds are in Kidepo Valley National Park (Uganda, about 70%), Meru National Park (Kenya, about 60%) and Tarangire National Park (Tanzania, about 60%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Crested Francolin is recorded against all the birds logged in uMkhuze Game Reserve (318 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.
