- Colinus cristatus
Identification
18-21.5 cm.
- Prominent white to buff crest and crown
- Mottled grey, brown and black overall colouration.
- Rufous side of head, throat and eyeline
- White hindneck and ring around throat with black and cinnamon spots
- Mottled grey and brown back and rump
- Wing feathers with buff margins
- Cinnamon breast and belly with black, white and buff spots
- Black bill
Females have a shorter, darker brown crest and their plumage is mottled brown and buff, with black and brown streaks.
The different subspecies differ mainly in tone of plumage and length of crest.
Distribution
Central America from Costa Rica south to Panama and northern South America (Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and extreme northern Brazil.
Common to very common in parts of its range.
Taxonomy
Spot-bellied Bobwhite was formerly considered to be conspecific with the Crested Bobwhite.
Subspecies
- C. c. mariae: Savanna of south-western Costa Rica and eastern Panama (Chiriquí)
- C. c. panamensis: Lowlands of Pacific slope of Panama
- C. c. decoratus: Caribbean coast of Colombia
- C. c. cristatus: North-eastern Colombia (eastern Santa Marta Mountains) east through the Guajira Peninsula to the coast of northwestern Venezuela; also Aruba and Curaçao (where possibly introduced)
- C. c. littoralis: Northern base of Santa Marta Mountains (north-eastern Colombia)
- C. c. badius: Cauca Valley to Pacific slope of Western Andes of Colombia
- C. c. leucotis: Northern Colombia (Magdalena and Sinú valleys)
- C. c. bogotensis: Eastern Andes of Colombia (Boyacá and Cundinamarca)
- C. c. parvicristatus: Eastern slope of eastern Andes of Colombia and adjacent Venezuela
- C. c. horvathi: Andes of north-western Venezuela (Mérida)
- C. c. barnesi: West-central Venezuela (Portuguesa and Barinas)
- C. c. mocquerysi: North-eastern Venezuela (Sucre, northern Monagas and northern Anzoátegui)
- C. c. sonnini: Coastal northern Venezuela to the Guianas and extreme northern Brazil
Habitat
Savanna and edges of woodland. Also in agricultural fields or pastures.
Occurs generally under 1500 m but up to 3200 m in Colombia.
Behaviour
Usually seen in coveys of up to 15 birds.
Diet
Feeds mainly on seeds. Takes also insects during wet season.
Vocalisation
The song, most often given by males in spring and summer, is a rising, scratchy, bob-Wight! or bob-bob-White!
Breeding
Breeds in wet season. Lays 8 to 16 eggs. Eggs incubated by both parents, though most nests are predominantly incubated by females. The chicks will leave the nest approximately 24 hours after hatching.
Movements
Presumably a sedentary species.
References
- Clements, J. F., P. C. Rasmussen, T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, A. Spencer, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, M. Smith, and C. L. Wood. 2024. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2024. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Gill, F, D Donsker, and P Rasmussen (Eds). 2024. IOC World Bird List (v 14.2). Doi 10.14344/IOC.ML.14.2. http://www.worldbirdnames.org/
- Avibase
- Arthur Grosset
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Crested Bobwhite. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 16 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Crested_Bobwhite
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1
