Black-fronted Wood Quail - BirdForum Opus

Odontophorus atrifrons

Photo by max1
Santa Marta mountains, Columbia, February, 2016

Identification

28-30 cm

• Face and throat is black
• Chestnut crest and hind crown appears short and bushy
• Brown body with buff, greyish and black vermiculations on upperparts
• Greyish-brown breast with indistinct white spots
• Cinnamon-buff belly streaked black.

Distribution

South America: found in Colombia and Venezuela.

Taxonomy

Subspecies

There are 3 subspecies^[1]:

• O. a. atrifrons:

• Santa Marta Mountains (north-eastern Colombia)

• O. a. variegatus:

• Eastern Andes of north-eastern Colombia

• O. a. navai:

• Sierra de Perijá (Colombia/Venezuela border)

Habitat

Dense undergrowth in montane humid forests at heights of around 1,200-3,100 m.

Behaviour

Diet

Little information available, but they scratch in the leaf litter, apparently for fruit and insects, in the same way as similar species.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, B.L. Sullivan, C. L. Wood, and D. Roberson. 2013. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: Version 6.8., with updates to August 2013. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. BirdLife International
3. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved July 2014)

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Black-fronted Wood Quail. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 7 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Black-fronted_Wood_Quail

External Links

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