Birds · Charadriiformes · Turnicidae

Common Buttonquail

Turnix sylvaticus

Least Concern

The species is abundant and widely distributed; it faces no significant short-term risk. See full glossary

The common buttonquail is a species of charadriiform bird of the family Turnicidae. There are nine subspecies or different forms distributed across tropical Africa, the western Mediterranean, South-East Asia and the Philippines. Several of them are geographically isolated on islands or archipelagos, such as Turnix sylvatica nigrorum -Negros island-, T. s. masaaki -Mindanao, Philippines-, T. s. suluensis -Jolo island, Sulu archipelago- and T. s. whiteheadi -Luzon, Philippines-. Others occupy somewhat wider territories, such as T. s. davidi -Indochina and Taiwan-, T. s. dussumier -Pakistan, India and Nepal- and T. s. lepurana -Africa south of the Sahara-. The nominate subspecies, Turnix sylvatica sylvatica, was distributed at the start of the twentieth century along the coastal strip of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, as well as Sicily, southern Portugal and coastal Andalusia. Today, however, it has been reduced to a couple of pockets in Morocco and is officially considered extinct in Spain, its last European stronghold. At present there are several groups in Spain and Morocco working to locate these last individuals.

Weight

35 g – 70 g

Size

15 cm – 16 cm

Lifespan

6 years

Diet

Omnivore

Combines animal and plant food depending on availability.

Activity

Diurnal

Active mainly during the day.

Social structure

Solitary

Lives and hunts alone, joining others only to breed.

Sighting difficulty

Easy

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Fun facts

It is the only bird species to have become extinct in Europe in recent times: the Andalusian population, the last on the continent, was given up as gone at the start of this century, and the last reliable Spanish record is from 1981 in Doñana.
The female gives a deep, hollow call, like the distant lowing of a bull or someone blowing across a bottle, that carries through the scrub and from which its Spanish name comes.

Life cycle & biology

Skeleton type: Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bird)
Habitat & environment: Low scrub, dwarf palm scrub, dense grassland and dry farmland with herbaceous cover
Sexual maturity: 12 months
Gestation / incubation: 13 days of incubation
Litter / clutch size: 4 eggs

Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turnix_sylvaticus