Ocellated Quail

Cyrtonyx ocellatus

Piccola e sfuggente quaglia dei boschi di pini e querce arbustivi nelle alture più secche; predilige le aree con macchia di quercia e graminacee a ciuffi. Di solito in piccoli gruppi; raramente si invola finché non le si è quasi addosso. Può essere vista ai lati di strade e sentieri tranquilli, principalmente all'inizio e alla fine della giornata, ma di solito rimane ben nascosta nel folto. Il maschio ha un sorprendente disegno facciale a maschera arlecchino e parti inferiori ruggine con una complessa fantasia. La femmina ha una cresta folta e una traccia del disegno facciale del maschio. Specie simile: la Quaglia crestata.

Identificazione

The ocellated quail is 20.5 to 23 cm (8.1 to 9.1 in) long. Males weigh an estimated 218 g (7.7 oz) and females an estimated 182 g (6.4 oz). The adult male's face has a black and white harlequin pattern. Its crown and nape are buffy brown to olive brown with a thick tawny crest on the rear of the crown. The throat is white with black stripes. Its upperparts are gray and brown with cinnamon stripes and black spots. The central breast is tawny cinnamon and its edges gray with cinnamon spots. The belly is a deeper cinnamon, the flanks gray with cinnamon scallops, and the vent area black. The female's face is buffy and black, the crest tawny, and the upperparts brown with buff lines. The breast and belly are wine red with black bars and spots.

Tassonomia

The ocellated quail shares genus Cyrtonyx with the Montezuma quail (C. montezumae) and Salle’s quail (C. sallei). It is monotypic.

Nome scientifico
Cyrtonyx ocellatus
Autorità
(Gould, 1837)
Ordine
Galliformi
Famiglia
Odontophoridae
Genere
Cyrtonyx

Areale e habitat

The ocellated quail is or was found in far southern Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and possibly Nicaragua. Only in Guatemala have there been a significant number of sightings since the late 1900s, with none in El Salvador and in Nicaragua only a c. 1900 specimen and a few early 2000s sight records near the Honduran border. It inhabits shrubland and open pine and oak forest, generally between 750 and 3,050 m (2,460 and 10,010 ft) of elevation.

Migrazione
Resident species

Comportamento

The ocellated quail is entirely terrestrial. It forages for tubers and roots by digging with its feet. Especially during the breeding season it also takes a variety of insects.<p>Almost nothing is known about the ocellated quail's breeding phenology. In Guatemala it is reported to breed between April and August. The nest and eggs have not been described.<p>Though they have not been described in detail, the ocellated quail's vocalizations are similar to those of Montezuma quail. The male apparently sings "a single descending, buzzy whistle" and the female "a descending series of short notes".

Conservazione

Population trend: declining.

Tendenza della popolazione
declining

Foto

Distribuzione

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