Barred Buttonquail / Burung Puyuh Tanah

 

Despite 'quail,'  these birds are only distantly related to true quail.  Genetic analysis tells us their closest relatives are actually the shorebirds- sandpipers and plovers. 

Living up to its name- behind bars?


Barred buttonquail are found from India to the Philippines and from China to Indonesia.  Their conservation status is “least concern,” indicating that they are fairly common throughout their range. Nevertheless, they are “extremely difficult to detect, moving about invisibly in dense weedy vegetation.” (eBird)

Gender roles are reversed in these birds. Females are larger and more colourful, initiate courtship and fight amongst themselves for males. A female  produces “a loud drumming drr-r-r-r-r as a challenge to rival hens and also to announce herself to a cock.”  (Wikipedia )  Males incubate the eggs and care for the precocial hatchlings.  Meanwhile the female has acquired a new ‘husband’ and has laid another clutch of eggs.  Accordingly, there is no particular nesting season as such; nests, eggs and hatchlings can be found throughout the year.

Video: https://youtu.be/pO81-tcVtxA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Visit to Sungai Congkak- Part 1

Image
This was my first MNS outing since my retirement and since COVID.   For a long time we were restricted to trips of 10 km or less.  Now we can travel- so long as we remain within Selangor. Insiders refer to the Malaysian Nature Society as ‘makan non-stop.’   Hence, naturally, our meeting point was the Eng Soon Hoong coffee shop in Hulu Langat.   My review is here Five Stars for a Traditional Breakfast .   After breakfast we drove an additional 11 km to our destination.   Why didn’t we find a restaurant closer to our destination?    In the Islamic calendar it is the fasting month of Ramadan.   Accordingly, all the Malay restaurants are closed during sunlit hours; buka puasa begins at sunset. In Bahasa Malay (and on the Waze map) this location is Kem Latihan & Rekreasi Sungai Congkak.   For monolingual English readers ‘latihan’ is practice or training.   Also did you   notice that ‘ch’ is rendered as simply ‘c’ in Ma...
Read more

Black Giant Squirrel / Tupai Kerawak Hitam

Image
Introduction Black giant squirrels are widely distributed- from Nepal to Vietnam and as far south as Java.  About 10 subspecies are presently recognised.  With further study, it is likely some subspecies may be promoted to full species status.  In that case, our squirrel would be officially become the Malayan giant squirrel. Momentarily frozen: a serpent-eagle was flying just 2 -3 metres above the canopy. How is a giant squirrel different from an ordinary squirrel? Characteristic plantain squirrel black giant squirrel       Head & body length 15-22 cm 34–37 cm Tail length 21 cm 42 cm Weight 160-260 g 1.0 -1.5 kg Age 4 years in the wild. Up to 10 years in captivity. 6+ years in the wild. Up to 19 years in captivity. Description A medium sized squirrel...
Read more