That is a great bit of bird filming. A hard one to even watch, better view than I have ever had, and that close. Watching that, I feel they are far less quail-like
than the name would suggest.
I agree about the caution on Alan’s comment too. I suggest the “Undoubtedly feral cats are responsible for their absence”
is overstating a conclusion. That may well be relevant. If it is the only factor, why were the birds there before
some years ago. Cats have been around for a long time.
Philip
From: David Rees [
Sent: Wednesday, 31 October, 2018 3:16 PM
To: Alan Cowan
Cc: <>
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] Pained Button-Quail.
Alan
They were not easy to find in a huge area of fairly remote potential habitat, that I and a friend searched. Whatever is the cause of their apparent demise in a suburban location in central Canberra is a matter of conjecture, unless of
course if the science has actually been done. Unfortunately, small isolated populations of anything are always vulnerable to 'stochastic' events.
On Wed, Oct 31, 2018 at 1:34 PM Alan Cowan <> wrote:
I'm glad David Rees saw a PBQ in northern NSW,
I have seen them many times in the woodland on Stirling Park Yarralumla but not for some years now. Undoubtedly feral cats are responsible for their absence.
