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Red-chested Button-quails are very small ground-dwelling birds. Their plumage is highly cryptic and dimorphic, i.e. males and females are different. The upperparts (nape of the neck, wings, rump, tail) of both sexes are mainly dark grey-brown, with a thin, central brown stripe on the cap. Male Red-chested Button-quails have a white throat, light-brown chest and white belly and vent. Female Red-chested Button-quails have an all chestnut-brown front (throat, chest, belly, vent). The bill of both sexes is dark-grey, the legs and feet are the colour of skin.

Twitcher's tip

Compared to other species of quail and button-quail, Red-chested Button-quails have the most pronounced contrast between dark upperparts and lighter (or homogeneous chestnut brown) front.

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).

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 Red-chested Button-quail is available HERE .

Red-chested Button-quails are endemic to the Australia continent. Their distribution is patchy. They are mostly found in parts of the Great Dividing Range and some inland areas of NSW and QLD. Occasionally they can disperse along the entire north-eastern half of the Australian continent, i.e. roughly all of VIC, NSW, QLD, the NT (except its south-western corner) and the Kimberley in WA.

Red-chested Button-quails are found mostly in open grassland.

A female Red-chested Button-quail was spotted by G. & G. Drady on the Coonamble to Baradine road (NSW) in February 2011.

R. Druce reports seeing a Red-chested Button-quail at Maules Creek, NSW, in December 2011.

During the 2020/21 breeding season, after 3 years of severe drought and heat during the summers with subsequently a year of above average rainfall, an irruption of Red-chested Button-quails was observed in an area spanning from the Upper Hunter valley to the North-west Slopes and Plains of NSW. At the time, no aerial predators, such as e.g. Spotted Harriers, were found in the area.

We have first spotted a single Red-chested Button-quail at Eulah Creek, 20 km East of Narrabri, NSW, in February 2012. Another was found at the same location in April 2020, when first photos were obtained by us.

M. Roderick reports finding a Red-chested Button-quail at Hexham Swamp, Hunter estuary, Newcastle, NSW, in December 2017.