Chestnut-backed Buttonquail
Turnix castanotus
Streaked buttonquail with very heavy pale bill, found in open woodlands, including stony ridges. Heavily patterned, with pale and dark streaks on rich rufescent back, light streaks on pale olive underparts. In flight, pale wing patches and rusty brown rump visible. When disturbed, this species tends to run away rather than flush. Occurs across parts of northern Kimberley region and top end of the Northern Territory.
Taxonomy
John Gould described the species in 1840, from a specimen collected by Benjamin Bynoe, ship's surgeon of HMS Beagle, from northwestern Australia, as Hemipodius castanotus. English zoologist George Gray placed it in the genus Turnix in 1870. William Robert Ogilvie-Grant corrected the name to Turnix castanonota in 1889. Three subspecies were described by Gregory Mathews, but all are now considered as invalid and merely individual variants.
- Scientific name
- Turnix castanotus
- Authority
- (Gould, 1840)
- Order
- Charadriiformes
- Family
- Turnicidae
- Genus
- Turnix
Range and habitat
Native to northern Australia, the species ranges from the Dampier Peninsula in Western Australia across to Westmoreland Station in the Gulf Country of northwestern Queensland, with possible records from Gregory Downs and Augustus Downs further east. It is also native to Melville Island and Groote Eylandt. It was common around Borroloola and McArthur River, but not currently. Its existence in Queensland was only confirmed in 2020.<p>Its natural habitats are low grasslands and Eucalyptus forests and woodland, favouring quartzite-sandstone ridges, plateaus and escarpments, mostly (but not always) in areas that receive over 800 mm (31 in) summer rainfall.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The usual sex roles are reversed in the buttonquail genus (Turnix), as the larger and more brightly-coloured female mates with multiple male partners and leaves them to incubate the eggs. The female lays a clutch of 1–5 (usually 4) pyriform eggs, which are glossy-white with sparse small dark blotches.
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Crested Satinbird
Cnemophilus macgregorii
A fairly large, colorful bird of upper montane forest. Plump with a rather square-shaped head. Male has a blue eye, black underparts and an indistinct crest on the forehead. Upperparts are bright yellow in the southeast, and bright scarlet in the rest of the range. Female is olive green with orange-brown wing and tail. Male is unmistakable. Female is similar to but larger than female Loria’s Satinbird and has a pale gray eye. Also similar to but smaller than the female MacGregor’s Bowerbird and more greenish than brown. Male gives a rasping growl and has audible wingbeats.
Cape Weaver
Ploceus capensis
A large weaver with a long, thin pointed bill. The male has a pale eye, and during the breeding season a brownish wash to the face. The female has a brown eye and an olive-brown belly. The species occupies open country, where it often breeds in mixed-species colonies over water or in large isolated trees. The chattering and rasping song is long and complex. The smaller Southern Brown-throated Weaver has a chunkier bill than Cape Weaver; its male has a better defined brown throat and its female has a white belly. African Golden-Weaver has reddish eyes, and Holub’s Golden-Weaver has an unstreaked yellowish back.
Nicobar Sparrowhawk
Tachyspiza butleri
Small raptor with short wings. Male is gray above with thin brown barring on the pale underparts, and a black tail tip. Female is browner overall. Similar to Shikra, but Nicobar Sparrowhawk is smaller and paler, and has no tail bands. Known to be shy; sticks to treetops in forested habitats. Limited range restricted to a few of the Nicobar Islands.
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