Brown Quail - BirdForum Opus

Synoicus ypsilophorus

Photo by fthsm
Fairyland, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, January 2009

Identification

• Rufous brown or grey brown upperparts
• Streaked white and barred black
• Chestnut brown lowerparts
• Red-yellow iris
• Black bill
• Orange-yellow legs and feet

Distribution

Graphic by Nrg800

Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea and the Lesser Sundas.

Introduced to New Zealand.

Taxonomy

Formerly placed in genus Coturnix.

Subspecies

There are 10 subspecies^[1]:

• S. y. raaltenii: Lesser Sundas (Flores, Timor and adjacent islands)
• S. y. pallidior: Lesser Sundas (Sumba and Sawu)
• S. y. saturatior: Lowlands of northern New Guinea
• S. y. lamonti: Mid-montane central highlands of New Guinea
• S. y. dogwa: Lowlands of southern New Guinea
• S. y. plumbeus: Lowlands of eastern New Guinea
• S. y. monticola: Alpine grasslands of south-eastern New Guinea
• S. y. mafulu: Southern slopes of mountains of south-eastern New Guinea
• S. y. australis: Moist areas of Australia
• S. y. ypsilophorus: Tasmania

Habitat

Open woodland, grassland, parks, cultivated land, rainforest edges and coastal scrub.

Behaviour

Diet

The diet includes seeds, shoots, and insects.

Breeding

It nests in a ground scrape, in thick grass, near water. The eggs are incubated by both sexes.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2016. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2016, with updates to August 2016. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Birds in Backyards
3. BF Member observations

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2021) Brown Quail. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 29 April 2021 from https://www.birdforum.net/wiki/Brown_Quail

External Links

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