Brown Quail
Photo: T Quested © T Quested
Distribution map of Coturnix ypsilophora
Map © Birds Australia Birdata
Brown Quail
Scientific name: Coturnix ypsilophora
Family: Phasianidae
Order: Galliformes
What does it look like?
Description
The Brown Quail is a small, plump ground-dwelling bird. It is variable in colour, ranging from red brown to grey brown with fine white streaks and black barring above, and chestnut brown below. The eye is red to yellow, the bill black and the legs and feet orange-yellow. In Tasmania, this species is called the Swamp Quail and tends to be larger and darker than mainland birds, with a pale yellow eye. Female Brown Quails are larger and may be more heavily marked with black and paler below than males. Young birds are like adult females, with less distinct markings and a dark brown eye. Quails rarely fly, preferring to hide unless an intruder flushes them; then they fly low to the ground, with a rapid whirring flight.
Similar species
The similar Stubble Quail, C. pectoralis, is paler brown with a pale to white eyebrow and males have a distinctive chestnut brown throat patch while females have a creamy, flecked throat patch. In flight, the Brown Quail has dark flanks and plain upperparts, where other quails have pale flanks and more patterned upperparts.
Where does it live?
Distribution
The Brown Quail is found across northern and eastern Australia, from the Kimberley region in Western Australia to Victoria and Tasmania, as well as in south-western Australia. It is also found in Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, and has been introduced to New Zealand.
Habitat
The Brown Quail prefers dense grasslands, often on the edges of open forests, and bracken. May sometimes be seen alongside roads.
Seasonal movements
Nomadic, moving wherever suitable feeding and breeding conditions are available.
What does it do?
Feeding
The Brown Quail feeds in the early morning or evening, on the ground, mainly on seeds and green shoots, but also on insects. In some area, quails will readily cross roads and may be seen feeding along roadsides.
Breeding
The Brown Quail's well-hidden nest is a scrape in the ground, lined with grass, hidden in thick grasses under overhanging vegetation not far from water. Both sexes incubate the eggs. Young Brown Quails leave the nest straight after they hatch.
Living with us
Living with humans
The Brown Quail may sometimes be hunted, depending on each state's hunting season licencing regulations.
References
Olsen, P., Crome, F. and Olsen, J. 1993. The Birds of Prey and Ground Birds of Australia. Angus and Robertson, and the National Photographic Index of Australian Wildlife, Sydney.
Morcombe, M. 2000. Field guide to Australian Birds. Steve Parish Publishing.
Simpson, K and Day, N. 1999. Field guide to the birds of Australia, 6th Edition. Penguin Books, Australia.