Clapperton's Spurfowl

We saw Clapperton's spurfowl in Kidepo Valley NP in northeastern Uganda in July 2025. In the Wikipedia article there are three photos and all three were taken in Kidepo Valley NP with a notation on one photo that it is the nominate subspecies. There are two subspecies: (1) Pternistis clappertoni clappertoni found from Mali to southern Sudan, eastern South Sudan, northeastern Uganda and western Ethiopia; and (2) P. c. sharpii found in northern and central Ethiopia and Eritrea. 

Illustration from Birds of the World. 

Illustration from Birds of the World without a moustachial stripe. The moustachial stripe varies a lot. It is lacking in the northeastern part of the range, like where we were in Kidepo Valley NP. Also brown markings on lowerparts are heaviest in the western part of its range. 

Clapperton's spurfowl has: a red patch around the eye; a white throat and foreneck; red legs; males have two spurs and females have one spur or none; and the bill is black with a red lower mandible. There is great geographical variation in the plumage and some authors treat it as monotypic (no subspecies), which is how it is treated in Birds of the World. However, as noted above, Wikipedia shows it has having two subspecies. eBird only lists 218 photos and 930 observations which is very few compared to most other birds. There is also very little on it in Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World.