Spotted Wood Quail - BirdForum Opus

Odontophorus guttatus

Photo by Stanley Jones
Province of San Jose, Costa Rica, February, 2014

Photo by costaricanbirdwatcher
Talamanca Range, Costa Rica

Identification

23–28 cm: male slightly larger than the female

• Orange crest (raised when excited)
• Upperparts dark brown with black and rufous flecks
• Olive brown underparts with white spots
• Dark brown forehead
• Cheeks and throat are black streaked with white

Sexes are similar, but the female has a duller crest
Immature: smaller, more buff-tinted spotting

• Throat is dusky rather than black
  

There is a colour morph with white-spotted rufous underparts

Distribution

South America: found in south-eastern Mexico, Costa Rica and extreme western Panama.

Taxonomy

This is a monotypic species^[1].

Habitat

Dense understory thickets or bamboos. Tropical and secondary forest at heights around 500–3000 m.

Behaviour

Breeding

The eggs are creamy-white with brown spots.

Diet

Largely vegetarian, eating seeds, bulbs, nut flesh and rootlets; insects are also taken. They forage on the ground.

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/

1. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved June 2014)
2. Wikipedia

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Spotted Wood Quail. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 8 June 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Spotted_Wood_Quail

External Links

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