Steve Clark comment on BbBq included:
2. Do aviculturalists keep button quail? A few years back I was stunned
to see my first Little B-q wandering around on the concrete path outside
my kitchen window (urban Hamilton, Victoria). The bird was very tame and
stayed for a couple of weeks, then disappeared. I suspected it was an
escapee but my enquiries with local aviculturalists convinced me that
no-one was missing such a bird and no-one knew of any being kept in the
town. I saw a pair of LB-q's in the district a week or so after my bird
disappeared so I assume my bird was not an escapee.
Wandering off the BbBq thread a little I'd like to add another record of
Little Bq om 1 Jan at 70 Francis Street, Bondi. This bird was seriously
shagged but managed to evade my attempts to catch it. This record was
summarily dismissed as an escape at a subsequent meeting of the Field
Ornithologists' Club of NSW, quite unjustifiably I think. It followed a long
dry spell and extreme temperatures over Christmas. Not sure close parallels
can be drawn between BbBq and Little Bq but clearly some members of the
genus move around. I'll enquire amongst aviculturalists as to status of BbBq
in private hands. The major zoos hold them.
Paul
Paul Andrew
Curator
Taronga Zoo
PO Box 20
Mosman
NSW 2088
Australia
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