Hi Martin,
To me that seems like circular reasoning to rely on just one aspect, unless it actually is definitive. Is it?
They don’t always fly away, sometimes they fly past. Sometimes it is possible to get to see the face marking on Stubble Quail (males).
Button-quail aren’t all tiny by the way. And they don’t necessarily have just short flights.
Philip
From: Canberrabirds [
On Behalf Of Martin Butterfield via Canberrabirds
Sent: Saturday, 22 January, 2022 10:20 AM
To: calyptorhynchus
Cc: cog chatline
Subject: Re: [Canberrabirds] Quails at Gungaderra Grasslands
My usual starting point - given that all I usually see is a quail shape, moving moving at warp factor 7 - is how the departing bird re-enters the cover. Stubble drop in bum first while Brown spear
in head first.
On Sat, 22 Jan 2022 at 09:44, calyptorhynchus via Canberrabirds <> wrote:
Someone asked me to elaborate on the differences between the quails, so I wrote:
Brown Quail, medium sized, all dark brown including underneath, rose rapidly and noisily and flew straight a longish distance before settling again.
Stubble Quail, slightly larger than Brown Quail, pale grey above with whitish streaks, pale underneath, rose rapidly and very noisily and flew straight rocking from side to side
in flight a longish distance before settling.
If I'd been lucky enough to flush a Button-quail (of whatever species) it would have been tiny, have risen rapidly but not particularly noisily and plonked down only a short distance
away.
as a ps I've just remembered that a couple of months ago I was walking the same path and heard Stubble Quail calling.
cheers
John L
On Sat, 22 Jan 2022 at 09:26, Steve Read <> wrote:
Thanks John – I’m not particularly good at quail identification so that helps.
Would you consider also posting that response to the chatline? I think others would also like to know these differences.
Regards
Steve
From: calyptorhynchus <>
Sent: Saturday, 22 January 2022 9:10 AM
To: Steve Read <>
Subject: Re: [Canberrabirds] Quails at Gungaderra Grasslands
Hi Steve,
Brown Quail, medium sized, all dark brown including underneath, rose rapidly and noisily and flew straight a longish distance before settling again.
Stubble Quail, slightly larger than Brown Quail, pale grey above with whitish streaks, pale underneath, rose rapidly and very noisily and flew straight rocking from side to side
in flight a longish distance before settling.
If I'd been lucky enough to flush a Button-quail (of whatever species) it would have been tiny, have risen rapidly but not particularly noisily and plonked down only a short distance
away.
On Fri, 21 Jan 2022 at 21:51, Steve Read <> wrote:
Nice! Can you describe the field differences between the two quail as you saw them? Sometimes how individual birders describe spotting characters or behaviour is more useful than
field guide illustrations.
On Fri, 21 Jan 2022 at 7:46 pm, calyptorhynchus via Canberrabirds <>
wrote:
This evening I went for a walk along the very overgrown track through the Grasslands running south from the end of Bollard Street Palmerston.
Within 100 metres of the start I had flushed a single Brown Quail, and 200 metres further on a single Stubble Quail! Nice comparison between the two.
Also seen were Skylark and Australian Pipit, but the grassland probably hasn't been this lush and tall for decades, so pretty difficult to see anything ground-dwelling that doesn't
fly!
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