After seeing literally hundreds of saucers in the past fortnight, I
finally saw a female Painted Button-quail. I had just seen fresh saucers
and other scratchings, so I was on the lookout. The first time I saw her
was only a fleeting glimpse. The second time I saw her (I imagine that
it was the same 'she' because the sightings were less 100m apart), she
'froze', she scratched about, she made several fresh 'saucers' for me to
examine after she had gone. She also gave a practical demonstration that
not all PBQ scratchings are saucer-shaped. In fact most of the
scratches she made were not saucer-shaped - with only three 'saucers' in
12 minutes of feeding.
The site was on Black Moutain NR, on the ridge behind the electricity
sub-station (which is on Frith Road). Both sighting areas had tussock
grasses, fallen branches, exposed stones, leaf litter, Red Stringybarks
and Scribbly Gums. Both also had scattered shrubs. Canopy cover in one
was about 30% in the other about 10%. For the second sighting the bird
was between 5 and 10 m away for about 12 minutes. Even so, and tracking
her with binoculars, she was extremely difficult to see.
There were no calls.
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