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Spotted Quail-thrush (Cinclosoma punctatum) Alternate name(s): "Spotted Groundbird", "Ground-thrush", "Ground-dove", "Babbling-thrush" Size: 26-28 cm Body mass: 84-123 g

Australia: Family Group 20 Family Group 20 Table Eastern Whipbird Chirruping Wedgebill Chiming Wedgebill Spotted Quail-thrush Cinnamon Quail-thrush Chestnut-breasted Quail-thrush Varied Sittella Crested Bellbird Eastern (Crested) Shrike-tit Northern (Crested) Shrike-tit Grey Whistler Olive Whistler Golden Whistler Western Whistler Mangrove Golden Whistler White-breasted Whistler Rufous Whistler Gilbert's Whistler Rufous Shrike-thrush Arafura Shrike-thrush (Little Shrike-thrush) Bower's Shrike-thrush Sandstone Shrike-thrush Grey Shrike-thrush Thumbnails page Family group table Index of bird names Habitat pages Key plants Birds home page

Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description Click here for a physical description Spotted Quail-thrushes are secretive thrush-sized bushland birds. Their highly cryptic plumage is dimorphic, i.e. males and females are different. Both sexes have long and wide white eyebrows, grey ear coverts, a grey chest and a white belly and vent with heavy brownish-black streaks. The back is brown, with heavy brownish-black streaking; the rump is more greyish-brown, the tail is grey. Male Spotted Quail-thrushes have a black chin and throat, with white cheek patches. Their crown is grey with darker grey streaks. The heavily streaked brown wings have black shoulder patches with thin white bars and thin white leading edges on the flight feathers. Females have a white throat and a pale-orange neck patch. The crown is more brownish than that of males. The irises of both sexes are dark. The nearly straight bill is black; the legs and feet are pinkish-grey. Juveniles resemble female Spotted Quail-thrushes.

Taxonomy, classification See Spotted Quail-thrush at Wikipedia .

Range, habitat, finding this species Click here for information on habitat and range The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org . The global distribution of the Spotted Quail-thrush is available HERE . Spotted Quail-thrushes are endemic to Australia. There are three races of Spotted Quail-thrushes, which are found in the south-eastern and eastern part of the continent and in Tasmania. The range of nominate race "punctatum" extends from the south-eastern tip of SA, through most of VIC, along the coastal fringe and the Great Dividing Range of NSW into southern QLD. North of about Maryborough, QLD, they are not found on the coastline any more, but only in the hill ranges, up to about the tropic of Capricorn (Rockhampton, QLD). Race "anachoreta" is found only in a small area around Adelaide, SA, and race "dovei" in the eastern half of Tasmania. Spotted Quail-thrushes have a strong preference for rocky, often mountainous, terrain with dense low shrubs and tufty grass. They spend most of their time on the ground. Where to look? How to find this species? Spotted Quail-thrushes are rather difficult to find, even if one is right in their favourite type of habitat. Often one will only get a fleeting impression of a bird trying to sneak away from the disturbance caused by an observer by moving unobtrusively along the ground between patches of cover. That cover may be vegetation or rock surface on which their cryptic plumage makes them very hard to see. In 20 years of bird-watching (and counting), we have never seen a Spotted Quail-thrush in flight or moving fast. One's chances are best when entering a known area where they are present early in the morning and keeping an eye on either the road or walking track ahead for birds foraging along the edges or trying to cut across.

Sightings Click here for sighting information Race "punctatum" We first saw a pair of Spotted Quail-thrushes, race "punctatum", near Wollomombi Falls, Oxley Wild Rivers NP, East of Armidale, NSW, in early 2005. The second sighting was in Mount Kaputar NP, in April 2006. Spotted Quail-thrushes, race "punctatum", were spotted there again occasionally in subsequent years. M. Fleming also found the species there in October 2021. Spotted Quail-thrushes, race "punctatum", were also found by us at Coolah Tops NP, 30 km East of Coolah, NSW, in May 2009. M. Fleming reports finding Spotted Quail-thrushes, race "punctatum", in the Western High Tops part of Warrumbungle NP, 30 km West of Coonabarabran, NSW, in October 2021. Both Coolah Tops NP and Warrumbungle NP are on the western edge of the species' range. R. Plumtree reports spotting a Spotted Quail-thrush, race "punctatum", at Breakfast Creek, near Ensay South, East Gippsland, VIC, in April 2014. B. Hensen reports finding Spotted Quail-thrushes, race "punctatum", on a sandstone ridge near St. Albans, NSW, in October 2017. M. Eaton reports spotting a Spotted Quail-thrush, race "punctatum", at Moggill Regional Park, near Anstead, QLD, in August 2019.

Photos

Race "punctatum"

ADULT

MALE

Frontal view of a male Spotted Quail-thrush issuing its call (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Moggill Regional Park, near Anstead, QLD, August 2019]

Frontal view of a male Spotted Quail-thrush spreading its wings to cool at ca. 32 C (at ca. 1200 m altitude)
[Mt. Kaputar NP, NSW, January 2019]

Frontal view of a male Spotted Quail-thrush looking sideways (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Moggill Regional Park, near Anstead, QLD, August 2019]

Near-frontal view of a male Spotted Quail-thrush issuing its call (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Moggill Regional Park, near Anstead, QLD, August 2019]

Near-lateral view of a male Spotted Quail-thrush (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Moggill Regional Park, near Anstead, QLD, August 2019]

Lateral view of a male Spotted Quail-thrush looking at the observer (photo courtesy of V. Collins)
[Mt. Kaputar NP, NSW, September 2021]

Lateral view of a male Spotted Quail-thrush looking towards the observer (photo courtesy of V. Collins)
[Mt. Kaputar NP, NSW, September 2021]

Lateral view of a male Spotted Quail-thrush issuing its call (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Moggill Regional Park, near Anstead, QLD, August 2019]

Lateral view of a male Spotted Quail-thrush (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Moggill Regional Park, near Anstead, QLD, August 2019]

Close-up lateral view of a male Spotted Quail-thrush
[Mt. Kaputar NP, NSW, January 2019]

Near-dorsal view of a male Spotted Quail-thrush
[Mt. Kaputar NP, NSW, January 2019]

Near-dorsal view of a male Spotted Quail-thrush (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Near St. Albans, NSW, October 2017]

Dorsal view of a male Spotted Quail-thrush looking sideways
[Mt. Kaputar NP, NSW, January 2019]

Dorsal view of a male Spotted Quail-thrush (photo courtesy of V. Collins)
[Mt. Kaputar NP, NSW, September 2021]

FEMALE

Frontal view of a female Spotted Quail-thrush challenging the observer; no nest or juveniles were found
[Mt. Kaputar NP, NSW, April 2020]

Near-dorsal view of a female Spotted Quail-thrush (photo courtesy of R. Plumtree)
[Near Ensay South, East Gippsland, VIC, April 2014]

Dorsal view of a female Spotted Quail-thrush
[Mt. Kaputar NP, NSW, April 2020]

Dorsal view of a female Spotted Quail-thrush; note the extreme wide-angle vision
[Mt. Kaputar NP, NSW, April 2020]

Behaviour

Social behaviour: Territorial

Mobility: Sedentary

Elementary unit: Covey/family clan

Spotted Quail-thrushes are communal, living in family clans. However, each clan as an entity/ensemble is territorial.

Spotted Quail-thrushes are cryptic in both plumage and behaviour and thereby often very hard to spot, even when in plain sight.

Lateral view of a male Spotted Quail-thrush using low vegetation for cover (photo courtesy of V. Collins)
[Mt. Kaputar NP, NSW, September 2021]

Male Spotted Quail-thrush - the full-size image shows how the bird melts into the surrounding landscape; this is most likely the bird whose calls were recorded on 6 August 2016 (photo courtesy of M. Windeyer)

Find the bird - male Spotted Quail-thrush walking away from the observer
[Mt. Kaputar NP, NSW, April 2020]

Near-dorsal view of a male Spotted Quail-thrush hiding behind low growth while clearly keeping an eye on the observer
[Mt. Kaputar NP, NSW, April 2020]

The following set of photos may show a male marking his territory.

Lateral view of a male Spotted Quail-thrush walking along a branch
[Mt. Kaputar NP, NSW, November 2011]

The same Spotted Quail-thrush as shown above, now seen calling
[Mt. Kaputar NP, NSW, November 2011]

... after which the Spotted Quail-thrush turned around...
[Mt. Kaputar NP, NSW, November 2011]

... before strutting back to where it had first come from
[Mt. Kaputar NP, NSW, November 2011]

Food, Diet

Spotted Quail-thrushes forage on the ground for insects and seeds.

Near-dorsal view of a male Spotted Quail-thrush foraging near the base of a tree
[Mt. Kaputar NP, NSW, January 2019]

Close-up lateral view of a male Spotted Quail-thrush looking for water?
[Mt. Kaputar NP, NSW, January 2019]

Call(s)/Song

For this species we have recorded the following call(s)/song. The interpretation of their meaning is our own; comments and suggestions for improvement are welcome.

spotqth_me_20190828.m4a	punctatum (SE QLD)	Territorial calls? (male)	© ME
spotqth_20150103.mp3	punctatum (NW NSW)	Warning call (male)	© MD
spotqth_20160806.m4a	punctatum (NW NSW)	Warning calls	© MD
spotqth_20190402_1.m4a	punctatum (NW NSW)	Alarm call (male)	© MD
spotqth_20190402.m4a	punctatum (NW NSW)	Alarm calls (male)	© MD
spotqth_20200425.m4a	punctatum (NW NSW)	Alarm calls	© MD
spotqth_20200425_2.m4a	punctatum (NW NSW)	Various	© MD

More Spotted Quail-thrush sound recordings are available at xeno-canto.org .

These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species please refer to a field guide.

Would you like to contribute photos or sound recordings to this site? If interested, please CLICK HERE. Credits to contributors are given HERE.