Common Quail - BirdForum Opus

Nominate subspecies - male
Photo © by birdimage
Uden, Netherlands, June 2008

Coturnix coturnix

Includes: Azores Common Quail, Cape Verde Common Quail, Abyssinian Quail, African Quail

Identification

16–20 cm (6¼-7¾ in)

• Buffish brown with darker brown and white streaks on upperparts.
• Cream supercilium
• Long wings
  

Nominate subspecies - female
Photo © by Alok Tewari
Gurgaon Rural, Haryana, India, February-2018

Male has a black chin

Distribution

Widespread Palearctic region; eastern and southern Africa.

Taxonomy

Subspecies C. c. africana - female aka African Quail
Photo © by Alan Manson
Cedara,, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, September 2008

Clements treats this species as monotypic^[1].
Other authorities recognize five (or more) subspecies:

• C. c. coturnix breeding in Europe and wintering in Africa
• C. c. conturbans on the Azores
• C. c. inopinata on Cape Verde
• C. c. erlangeri in eastern Africa
• C. c. africana in southern Africa

Mainly africana is split as African Quail by some authorities.

Habitat

Grassland.

Behaviour

Diet

The diet includes insects and seeds.

Breeding

The clutch of 6-18 eggs are laid in a ground nest, and incubated for 16-18 days.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2017. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2017, with updates to August 2017. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Avibase
3. Collins Field Guide 5th Edition ISBN 0 00 219900 9

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2023) Common Quail. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 1 December 2023 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Common_Quail

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