Mike,
I have never had trouble identifying Brown Quail, but that was because the
areas I was in were very unlikely to have both Brown Quail and Stubble
Quail. They are quite common in the Kimberley at Argyle and at Broome.
Then I was in the Pilbara in October last year and I flushed a large quail
near the Karratha sewage ponds. I initially called it a Stubble Quail
because it seemed to be quite streaky above, but I was surprised that I
didn't register any colour underneath. I ended up flushing four but got
similar views each time. I checked in Slater (which was all I had on the
trip) and neither were shown in the area, so I wasn't certain what to
think.
However, the next day I saw a group of 7 or 8 quail along a sandy creek
bed. They seemed quite pale and fairly streaky but as you say they turned
around and I got excellent views of the bold brown barring on the flanks
and front (?) confirming that they were actually Brown Quail.
I went back to the sewage ponds and managed to flush some quail again, and
I was confident enough now that they were Brown (and I corrected my
earlier Atlas sheet).
I note that Chris Hassell in Broome has been reporting Stubble Quail
several times recently. I don't know whether he has trapped them (they
are studying the Red-backed Button-quail), or if he has just seen them in
flight.
Another bird at Karratha also confused me. I flushed a very red lark. On
the second or third time it landed on an area of short grass and I managed
to get quite close (about 5 metres) and I had a good look. I didn't
immediately recognise it, and I was starting to think that maybe I had
something different. However I looked through Slater and it had a perfect
illustration as a Singing Bushlark as a different colour morph for this
area. So a plus for Slater. I have seen Singing Bushlark very often in
the Kimberley and they were never as red as these birds.
Frank O'Connor
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