birding-aus Buff-breasted Button-quail

[Lloyd Nielsen <>]

Hi everybody,

I have had a few recent requests from people for news of the Buff-breasted Button-quail - people who are planning a visit to the Wet Tropics later this year.  The news is not good at the moment and quite frankly, I wouldn't waste much time on them about the Mt Molloy area unless things change - and I think that is highly unlikely for the rest of this year.  The Queensland Ornithological Society made a grant available last year to try to determine the status of the species.  During the wet season - the bird's breeding season - I concentrated on the Mareeba, Mt Molloy, Mt Carbine area.  In over 250 hours of searching, I located just 3 pairs, each seen once and not seen again.  We had hoped they would remain to breed but no such luck.

I will be continuing the search further afield when the wet season finally gives up!  I will keep Ron at Kingfisher Park and Phil at Cassowary House up with the latest as the year goes on, so you can get information from them.

Bakers Road (near Mt Molloy) has long been touted as THE site to see BBBQ and unfortunately it is still being suggested as that in trip lists, especially the overseas lists.  The last time I saw Buff-breasted Button-quail there was about late 1993 - early 1994 (and I have been there many many times since then).  The grass thickened up at the start of the 1993 wet season (December) and the habitat has not been suitable for them since.  There have been quite a few Painted Button-quail there though!  Trip list directions  to this site have been wrong - 'past the fourth grid'.  Trying to find the fourth grid will take you many kilometres to the west onto Font Hills Station (where you have got a rather good chance of running up against a very unfriendly manager).  The site was originally past the third grid, but now the old site is 500 metres past the first grid.  Two grids were pulled up a few years ago.

I am very keen to hear of sightings of button-quail from Iron Range and particularly keen to have as much detail on birds seen as possible, so if anyone sees them there I would very much like to hear about it.  The sightings from Iron Range do not tally with the rest of the information we have from other areas including the information that McLennan gathered in 1922 from Coen when he collected skins and nests.  My data agrees with McLennan's which makes Iron Range intriguing.   The Painted BQ is not known to occur there so any large button-quail should be a Buff-breasted.  However, be aware of the smaller, darker Red-backed in that area - the only other  button-quail known to occur there.

Lloyd Nielsen,
Mt Molloy   Nth Qld.