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Painted Button-quailAlternate name(s): "Painted Quail", "Butterfly Quail*", "Scrub Quail", "Varied Quail" ![]() Size: 17-19 cm (male), 18-23 cm Weight: 53-83 g (male), 72-130 g (female) |
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Similar |
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See Painted
Button-quail at Wikipedia ![]() |
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Photos |
Race "varius"
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ADULT |
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MALE |
Near-lateral view of a male(?) Painted Button-quail
(photo courtesy of M. Fleming)
[Trinkey SCA, near Tambar Springs, NSW, November 2020]
Lateral view of a male Painted Button-quail - note the
rather small rufous shoulder patch
(photo courtesy of E.
Scott)
[Roseberry Creek Valley, near Toonumbar NP, northern NSW, February 2018]
Partly obscured lateral view of a male Painted Button-quail
(photo courtesy of E.
Scott)
[Roseberry Creek Valley, near Toonumbar NP, northern NSW, February 2018]
Lateral view of a male Painted Button-quail
(photo courtesy of M. Fleming)
[Trinkey SCA, near Tambar Springs, NSW, November 2020]
Lateral view of a male Painted Button-quail in mellow light
(photo courtesy of E.
Scott)
[Roseberry Creek Valley, near Toonumbar NP, northern NSW, October 2016]
Lateral view of a male Painted Button-quail in shady conditions
(photo courtesy of E.
Scott)
[Roseberry Creek Valley, near Toonumbar NP, northern NSW, October 2016]
Male Painted Button-quail hiding under a dead branch after being
disturbed by a group of nature lovers on a spotlighting trip
[Eulah Creek, NSW, April 2009]
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FEMALE |
Lateral view of a female Painted Button-quail;
note the extended rufous patches along the side
(photo courtesy of J. Greaves)
[Dryandra Woodlands, near Narrogin, WA, May 2018]
Lateral view of a female(?) Painted Button-quail hiding in undergrowth
(photo courtesy of M. Fleming)
[Trinkey SCA, near Tambar Springs, NSW, November 2020]
Near-dorsal view of a female Painted Button-quail, with an example
of the excellent camouflage provided by their
cryptic
plumage
(photo courtesy of J. Greaves)
[Dryandra Woodlands, near Narrogin, WA, May 2018]
Sex unknown |
Painted Button-quails on sandy soil
(photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Cooloola NP, QLD, January 2019]
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IMMATURE/JUVENILE |
Male Painted Button-quail with two of four chicks
(photo courtesy of C. Abbott)
[Yengo NP, NSW,
December 2016]
Male Painted Button-quail with three of four chicks
(photo courtesy of C. Abbott)
[Yengo NP, NSW,
December 2016]
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Breeding information |
Breeding season: Aug - Feb | Eggs: 3 - 4 | Incubation period: ca. 14 days | Fledging age: precocial |
The period listed in the table above is a core breeding period for Painted Button-quail in the southern parts of their range. In the northern parts they can breed any time of the year.
Painted Button-quail eggs hatch all on the same day. Chicks are fed by the male for about 7-10 days after leaving the nest and can fly only 10 days after leaving the nest.
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).
Genus | Coturnix | Turnix |
---|---|---|
Common name | True quails | Button-quails |
Similar species | Chicken-like | Wader-like |
Toes | 4 toes, one of which points backward | 3 toes, all of which point forward |
Nesting habits | Communal | Non-communal |
Main incubator | Female | Male |
Incubation period | ca. 21 days | ca. 14 days |
No. of eggs | 8-12 | ≤ 4 |
Nest building: ? | Incubation: Male | Dependent care: Male |
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Nest |
"bungobittah", "lar", "malunna", "jindi" [bundjalung] = nest [Aboriginal] |
Type: Basket | Material: Grass lining | Height above ground: N/A |
Painted Button-quail nest hidden in tall grass; who can find the
bird sitting on the nest? (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[St. Albans, NSW, December 2017]
View from above of a Painted Button-quail nest with 4 eggs in it
(photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[St. Albans, NSW, December 2017]
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Eggs |
"boyanga", "booyanga", "derinya", "dirandil", "koomura", "mirk", "ngampu", "nooluk", "pateena", "pum-pum" = Egg; "dirundirri" = eggs [Aboriginal]; "gawu" = eggs [gamilaraay] |
Size: 27 x 20 mm | Colour: Light-grey, with dark-grey speckles | Shape: Tapered oval |
Close look at four Painted Button-quail eggs
(photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[St. Albans, NSW, December 2017]
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Behaviour |
Painted Button-quails are very shy birds; often one only gets to see
them (here a male) when crossing an open patch of land, in this case
a dirt road
[Deriah Aboriginal Area, near Narrabri, NSW, August 2022]
Like other species of button-quails, Painted Button-quails create "platelets". These are bare patches on the ground that are caused by the birds' scratching in mulch or leaf litter while turning around a point of interest in search of food.
Bare patch where the observer had placed his recorder, that then picked
up a pair of Painted Button-quails on 15 August 2021 scratching and
calling
[Near Narrabri, NSW, November 2021]
Wide-angle overview of a bare patch where the observer had placed his
recorder, that then picked
up a pair of Painted Button-quails on 15 August 2021 scratching and
calling
[Near Narrabri, NSW, November 2021]
Two Painted Button-quail platelets
[Near Narrabri, NSW, August 2022]
A short video of how such platelets are made by the birds can be found
HERE
.
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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.
There are many fundamental differences between true quails (Coturnix) and button-quails (Turnix) (see above in the "Taxonomy, classification" section). One other is that, while in most bird species males "advertise" (i.e. call for a partner) and declare their territory, in the case of button-quails this is done by the females.
pbquail_20211201.m4a | (NW NSW) | Booming calls (female) | © MD | |
pbquail_20211224.m4a | (NW NSW) | Booming calls (female) | © MD | |
pbquail_20220827.mp3 | (NW NSW) | Booming calls (female) + rapid calls (male) | © MD |
Apart from various other callers in the background, the recording below, obtained on 15 August 2021, has a complex sequence of calls made by an interacting pair of Painted Button-quails: 1. Rather high-pitched rapid, almost trilling, calls by the male (4-8 sec), 2. a soft triple "boom" by the female (9-10 sec), 3. more rapid calls by the male (18-31 sec; 55 sec - 1:15 min), 4. first only two, then a long sequence of booming calls by the female (1:16-1:17 min; 1:18-1:53 min), 5. these are in part accompanied by a series of slower-paced and also lower-pitched calls by the male (1:34-2:20 min), with shuffling of feet audible as well.
pbquail_20210815.m4a | (NW NSW) | Various (interacting pair) | © MD |
We have also been able to record the wing beat of a Painted Button-quail.
pbquail_20210815_2.m4a | (NW NSW) | Alarm/departure | © MD | |
pbquail_20211201_2.m4a | (NW NSW) | Alarm/departure | © MD | |
pbquail_20220826.mp3 | (NW NSW) | Alarm/departure (pair) | © MD |
More Painted Button-quail sound recordings are available at
xeno-canto.org
.