MyKrugerHoliday
Photo: New Jersey Birds · CC BY-SA 2.0 · source ↗
Helmeted Guineafowl
Gewone Tarentaal · Numida meleagris
These plump, speckly birds wander the bushveld in noisy flocks, their slate-blue bodies covered in thousands of white polka dots. Each has a bare blue-and-red head topped with a bony helmet-like knob. They scratch the ground for seeds, insects, and bulbs, and burst into a cackling racket when alarmed, often running rather than flying away.
Log your Helmeted Guineafowl sighting — free →How to identify it
A round grey bird covered in white spots with a bald blue head and a bony casque on top.
Listen for its call
A loud, grating 'kek-kek-kek-kaaaa' - and a 'go-back, go-back' alarm.
Where to see it in Kruger
Abundant everywhere in the park, scratching along roadsides, in grassland, and around camps in chattering flocks.
Did you know
Guineafowl roost together in trees at night and raise such a cackling alarm that farmers use them as feathered burglar alarms.
Often confused with
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