Very interested to hear of Dion’s sighting on the Red-backed Button-quail in the
same paddock I saw 3 a few years ago. I saw them one August (can’t remember
the date from top of my head but have it recorded somewhere. I think it was
either 1997/98) with 25 King Quail and many Brown (100 plus) and 20-30 Stubble
Quails at the time. It really shows that these paddocks can be very good for
quail/ button-quail but I must admit I check them very irregularly (probably no
more than half a dozen times in the last 5 years) so these birds are probably much
more common than the recent sightings suggest!?!
Would the Red-backed Button-quail be more
of a local but rare resident? The previous sighting of this birds that I know of
was at McGraths Hill a few years ago. Ern Hoskin’s book “The
Birds of Sydney”, mentions sightings in Sydney’s Eastern suburbs (around La Perouse)
and I wonder if any are still there. I have seen some museums skins of birds
that were collected from Malabar/Maroubra area.
Edwin Vella
-----Original Message-----
From:
[ On Behalf Of Dion Hobcroft
Sent: Friday, 3 February 2006 6:08 PM
To:
Subject: [BIRDING-AUS] Red-backed
Button-quail at Cornwallis Road, Richmond, Sydney
Today
I visited Cuppitt’s Lane off Cornwallis Road, Richmond walking through the weedy fields looking for quail.
The first bird I flushed was a stunning female Red-backed Button-quail complete
with yellow bill, red back, intense red underparts with spots on the flanks and
chest and golden leading edge to the wing coverts. A spectacular bird. She gave
an excellent close flight view in the bins before she dived into chest high
paspalum. I flogged around for a further hour and a half flushing three Stubble
Quail and a Brown Quail and heard King Quail very close but no more
re-sightings of the button-quail. A few times I could see the grass moving
quail like in front of me but nothing flushed. There are numerous Singing
Bushlarks, Golden-headed Cisticola and some Chestnut-breasted Mannikins. This
follows up on sightings of Red-chested Button-quail in the same site so it is
in excellent quail condition.
Spent
a short time at Pitt Town Lagoon seeing two Baillon’s Crakes, heard
Spotless and had a great view of a juvenile female Collared Sparrowhawk.
All
the best
Dion
