RE: Painted Button-quail in suburbia

[David Geering <>]

I think it was John Disney (of Aust. Museum fame) that was fond of saying
that "birds have wings, and birds have wings for a reason".  Quail and
button-quail are very mobile critters and I would suggest that this bird is
more likely to be an errant wild bird than an escapee (although this,
naturally, can't be ruled out).  

Along a similar line, I saw a Cockatiel near Whittlesea (just north of
Melbourne) on 27 December.  An escapee perhaps?  This bird was very wary, I
turned the car around went back and went back to confirm the sighting.  The
bird was over 50 metres away and bolted as soon I got out of the car.  Not
exactly behaviour you would expect from a bird habituated to humans.  Again,
most likely a wild bird and not out of the question with the recent influx
of this species into the north of the state.

Cheers

David Geering 

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