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Black-breasted Button-quail
(Turnix melanogaster)
Size: 16.5-19 cm (female larger than male)
Weight: 50-85 g (male), 80-120 g (female)
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Physical description |
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 Click here for a physical description
Black-breasted Button-quails are small ground-dwelling birds.
Their plumage
is highly cryptic
and dimorphic, i.e.
males
and
females
are different.
Males have a black and white mottled head, with a brown and black
mottled cap, and a more coarsely black and white mottled breast
and belly.
Females
have an almost all-black head, with some minor white mottling
and a brownish back of the head. The front is much more prominently
black than the males', too, the centre being darkest, with more
mottling towards the sides.
The rest of the plumage
of both sexes is roughly equal, with a boldly streaked black, white
and brown back and mottled wing coverts. From a distance the general
colour appears to be brownish-grey.
The irises of both sexes are pale-grey. The slightly downcurved bill
is grey, while legs and feet are yellow.
Juveniles resemble males, but their wing coverts are streaked, not
mottled.
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Taxonomy, classification |
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See
Black-breasted Button-quail at Wikipedia  .
Click here for classification information
Quail vs. Button-quail
Although the two genera of the true quails, Coturnix, and the
button-quails, Turnix,
are outwardly very similar, and therefore often listed together,
there are significant differences between them (which is the
reason why they are in different family groups here).
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Genus
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Coturnix
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Turnix
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Common name
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True quails
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Button-quails
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Similar species |
Chicken-like |
Wader-like |
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Toes |
4 toes, one of which points backward |
3 toes, all of which point forward |
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Nesting habits |
Communal |
Non-communal |
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Main incubator |
Female |
Male |
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Incubation period |
ca. 21 days |
ca. 14 days |
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No. of eggs |
8-12 |
≤ 4 |
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Range, habitat, finding this species |
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Click here for information on habitat
and range
The overall distribution of this species can be assessed based
on sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to
ebird.org
.
The global distribution of the Black-breasted Button-quail is available
HERE
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Black-breasted Button-quails are endemic to Australia.
Their overall distribution is limited, from Hervey Bay, Inskip
Point and Fraser Island in QLD southward to north-eastern NSW,
to about Coffs Harbour. They live only on the eastern
(seaward) side of the Great Dividing Range.
The natural habitats of Black-breasted Button-quails are
rainforest
and lantana thickets.
However, their prime habitat is partly destroyed and largely
fragmented and they are now also found in man-made plantations.
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Sightings |
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Click here for sighting information
B. Hensen reports first finding a Black-breasted Button-quail
at Inskip Point, QLD, in January 2013.
We have found characteristic platelets of Black-breasted
Button-quails in
Ravensbourne
NP, near Esk, QLD, in March 2016.
M. Eaton reports first spotting Black-breasted Button-quails
at Cooloola NP, QLD, in December 2017. Platelets were found
at Mungoberry Vine Forest Reserve, Dundowran Beach, Hervey
Bay, QLD, in May 2018.
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Photos |
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ADULT |
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FEMALE |
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Lateral view of a partly obscured adult female Black-breasted
Button-quail; note the characteristic black head
(photo
courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Inskip Point, QLD, January 2013]
Typical Black-breasted Button-quail platelet, i.e. a scrape mould
(photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Mungoberry Vine Forest Reserve, Dundowran Beach, Hervey Bay, QLD, May 2018]
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.
Breeding
Nest
Eggs
Behaviour
Food
Call/s
