mysterious quail sighted

[jusdeb]

Saw a family of quail today whilst getting branches for the aviaries , not sure what they were and of course no camera on me .

They were bigger than a king and smaller than a Jap ....had the markings of a Jap but the colours were different shades of brown ( rich browns ).
They were a flock of 4 to be sure maybe more and were all the same size ...looked to be adult birds .

Any ideas .

[VR1Ton]

Out your way Deb, probably Stubble Quail, male has a black patch on his chest. Could also be a Painted, hen has rich browns & red, or a Brown, sought of like a giant hen king.

[jusdeb]

am googling stubble quail..............hmmmm looked closer to a brown quail ...Are they locals to Dubbo / Mudgee district ?

[VR1Ton]

Yep, Stubbles & Browns are Cotunix, true quail, female does all the work, while the male has all the fun, Painteds are Tunix, Button-Quail, female lays the eggs, & goes to find another mate leaving the male holding the eggs, so to speak. All three can be seen in small parties, or familly groups. Stubbles prefer open grasslands/crops, Browns & Painted prefer a bit more cover, being found in more treed areas, with good grass & litter coverage.

[Jayburd]

well they come around tamworth so I don't see why they shouldn't be around dubbo too...

[jusdeb]

Ill say brown then going on that they had a network of tunnels in the grass ( well seemed to have ) and were ducking in and out .

Was a first for me , made my day .

[Jayburd]

those could even be rabbit tunnels in the grass, but the fact they were using them means they may have been resident there for a bit

[desertbirds]

Little Button quail could also be in your area.There has been a bit of an explosion of Littles out here.

[Jayburd]

but littles are smaller than/same size as kings right?

[jusdeb]

These were maybe twice the size of my King Quail .