payaminotom
Well-known member
Last year, during the second week of October, I was working in sicily and stayed in a small rural village near Catania in the middle of farmland, mainly leguminous crops and vegetables. On the second night there, from my window I heard a familiar call, common quails, atleast 5 singing from the adjacent farmland. I thought it strange as I'd never heard them call at night before, they began about an hour after sunset and sang almost constantly. The day after there was complete silence, I didn't hear any all through the day, but the following night I heard them again, calling from the same spot. After this I did some investigating, and found no evidence that there were any being kept captive, though there was a small walled off roofless farm building in the same field, which I don't know what was inside. The following night I did not hear them, and they didn't call again the whole following week.
In summary, a group of quails sang nocturnally from farm fields on two consecutive nights, then seemingly disappeared, during the potential return migration season. And so my question is, do migrating common quails sing at night? Or is this a behaviour adopted by captive birds? I'd be very interested to learn if anyone has any information, as there is very little available online.
In summary, a group of quails sang nocturnally from farm fields on two consecutive nights, then seemingly disappeared, during the potential return migration season. And so my question is, do migrating common quails sing at night? Or is this a behaviour adopted by captive birds? I'd be very interested to learn if anyone has any information, as there is very little available online.