KING QUAIL

Photographed on Postman's Track, Dayboro, Queensland, October 2019

1299                  KING QUAIL                 Coturnix chinensis

AUSTRALIA                782

Ranges n, e and se Australia mainland and some islands, from Kimberley (WA) to sw Victoria. Patchy and irregular, some well inland. Seden try, dispersive. Also found in India, China, se Asia to Indonesia, PNG. Found in swampy heaths, dense grasslands, growth on edge of wetlands, weedy pastures and remnants, lucent crops, tall tropical grasslands, dry sedge plains, rice crops.

NOTE: Three birders with clear views of eight King Quail, however I had a camera issue and the camera would not focus. Pictures until obtain better.

This is what mine should have looked like! Photo courtesy of Charlie Scott, who had his  settings right on the day.

More of mine.

LITTLE BUTTON-QUAIL

Photographed near The Three Ways, Northern Territory, April 2018

1251                  LITTLE BUTTON-QUAIL                   Turnix velox

AUSTRALIA                746

Widely distributed over most of mainland except extreme north, sw and se. Found in dryish grasslands and grassy woodlands; can be common in crops, pasture and stubble. Partly migratory, tending to be more common in inland in winter.

Chick, photographed near Bedourie, Queensland, April 2018

CALIFORNIAN QUAIL

Photographed at Shakespear Regional Park, June 2017

(*   747)                CALIFORNIAN QUAIL                Callipepla californica  

NEW ZEALAND                19

Introduced from North America and now common over most of New Zealand, except bottom of South Island. 25 cm. Found in open country with patches of low scrub, riverbeds flanked by willows and gorse.

BROWN QUAIL

Photographed at Shakespear Regional Park, June 2017

(*  172)                 BROWN QUAIL               Coturnix ypsilophora

NEW ZEALAND                    18

An Australian introduction which is well establish and locally common in the top half of North Island. 18 cm. Found in scrub edges in rough farmland.

PAINTED BUTTON-QUAIL

Photographed at Chiltern State Forrest, August 2016

799            PAINTED BUTTON-QUAIL             Turnix varia

Australia            643

Found in scrublands, open woodlands with branch, leaf debris; tussocks, stones; heathlands, farm regrowth, mallee. 17-19 cm, female larger. Range e. and se. Aust., Tas. and s WA: from Atherton Tablelands (ne Q) to Tas., w to Eyre Pen. and Kangaroo Is., n to s Flinders Ras. (SA) In sw WA n to Shark Bay, including coastal islands. Sedentary, nomadic.

Note:  Not a very good photograph but the only ones I have been able to manage of this elusive bird so far.

CALIFORNIAN QUAIL

Photographed on Norfolk Island January 2016

747               CALIFORNIAN QUAIL                 Callipepla californica

Australia             (590)

Introduced species. Found in rank grassland in scrubs, stunted woodlands; dense tea-tree thickets. Range: w. N. America; introduced to parts NSW, Vic., Tas., from 1863. Most introductions failed, but remains fairly common King Is., Bass Strait and Norfolk Island. Sedentary.

NULLARBOR QUAIL-THRUSH

Photographed a few kilometres from the Nullarbor Roadhouse, Nullarbor Plain, South Australia March 2015

544         NULLARBOR QUAIL-THRUSH             Cinclosoma alisteri

Australia            (385)

Until recently considered a subspecies of the Cinnamon Quail-thrush (Minclosoma cinnamomeum) this bird is rare and can only be found on the Nullarbor Plains. It inhabits low salt-bush and is mostly found around the Nullarbor Roadhouse.

STUBBLE QUAIL

Photographed at night at Deniliquin, NSW, February 2015

515            STUBBLE QUAIL             Coturnix pectoralis

Australia             (356)

16-20 cm. Found in cereal crops and stubbles, lucerne; overgrown pastures and grasslands with thistles; saltbush, bluebush, spinifex; weedy margins of wetlands, irrigation channels, roadsides. Range e. and se Q, all NSW, Victoria and Tasmania; se. half SA. sw WA.

COMMON QUAIL

369           COMMON QUAIL         Coturnix coturnix

South Africa         (62)

18-21.9 cm. Widespread throughout Africa and in parts of Europe. Always on the ground, in grasslands, fields and crops, where it feeds on seeds.

BROWN QUAIL

172              BROWN QUAIL              Coturnix ypsilophora

Australia          (172)

Also known as Silver, Swamp or Tasmanian Quail. 16-22 cm. Largest of the native Quail. Eyes are red on the mainland, yellow in Tasmania. Found in rank grasses beside wetlands, drains, pastures, swampy coastal heaths, bracken, thickets, tropical grasslands and spinifex savannah. Range across n. e. se. and sw. mainland, and Tasmania.