Most of us here in the local area have
seen small roundish birds running across the roadway in front
of our cars or darting off into the grass alongside the road.
These tiny critters are more often than not quails, and one of
the species of quails found locally is the Painted Button-quail,
which is considered to be vulnerable.
Button-quails are very similar in habits
and look to true quails, they differ most significantly in appearance
by having only 3 toes (true quail’s have 4) and in habit
by the reversal of sexual roles between males and females. The
female makes all the advances at mating time and does all the
fighting for territorial rights. She lays 4 eggs and leaves the
male to incubate the eggs and raise the young, whilst the female
may wonder off to find a new mate and repeat the whole process,
leaving each mate raising a family. This species of Quail is also
expert at performing the “broken wing” act used to
lead predators away from its nest.
The Painted Button-quail prefers to live
in lush understorey, with a forest floor alive with bugs and grubs
to feast upon. Like chickens they scratch round areas and seek
out their food from under the mulch, each area scratched is only
about 8 cm in diameter, just perfect for a seed to fall into and,
due to their size; they provide a low impact solution for bug
control on the forest floor. The female is a bright chestnut across
the shoulder with crown, face and chest flecked white. The feathers
on the back and wings of the Painted Button-quail are amazing;
they do look like the feathers have been painted on in chestnut
and black with white streaking and provide perfect camouflage
when predators are near, by simply sitting down and blending into
the forest floor.
Button-quails are often seen in small groups
foraging during the daytime together, and nesting at night by
hiding in nooks amongst the leaf mulch. They run rather than fly,
and if they fly it is just above the ground, they are rarely found
perching. The young are particularly vulnerable to cat attack
and are often the hit by cars as they scurry across the road,
so p-lease be alert to these little guys when driving.
