Helmeted Guineafowl

Numida meleagris

Other Names

  Reichenow's Guineafowl, Tufted Guineafowl   Pintade de Numidie Pintade commune, Pintade sauvage   Helmperlhuhn   Pintada Común   Hjälmpärlhöna   Helmparelhoen   Faraona, Gallina di Numidia

World: West Africa, north-eastern Africa, southern Arabia and southern Africa.

Kenya: Common in southern and western Kenya, rare in the North and almost absent from the North-East and much of eastern Kenya.

Shorter and heavier than the Vulturine Guineafowl, the large "helmet" makes it very easy to distinguish. It prefers bush, woodland and shrubbed grassland generally in moister areas than the Vulturine. It usually breeds in or just after the rainy season(s) and can lay up to 20 eggs. Nests have been found with up to 50 eggs, presumably laid by more than one female. There are four subspecies found in Kenya, meleagris in the North, somaliensis in the North-East and south of the equator reichenowii except for the lowlands near the cost where mitrata is found. It's usually seen in large flocks on the ground but flies to communal roosts at night. We've found them easiest to see in one of the southern reserves; Amboseli, Tsavo or the Maasai Mara although they're also around in further North in parks such as Nakuru and Samburu