Voice
A repetitive, low, hollow, 'coo', similar to booming calls of button-quail, uttered only in Spring, possibly by female only. Male utters a soft chuck often repeated when calling chicks if danger threatens.
Plains-wanderer (Pedionomus torquatus) [XC366840]
by id from nr Deniliquin, New South Wales, Australia (song)
Breeding Season (Guide)
September - January or February.
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Nest
A depression, lined with grass, usually sheltered by a tuft of grass or a low bush.
Eggs (Guide)
2 - 5, usually 4; smooth, matt, pale green, heavily blotched and freckled with brown, olive and grey; pyriform; about 30 x 23 mm. Incubation: 23 days; mainly by male.
Young
Precocial, nidifugous. Fledge in about 60 days.
Subspecies
Populations in New South Wales were proposed as separate subspecies, goulburni, but no genuine geographical variation detectable.
No subspecies.
Similar Species
Adult male and juveniles with Little Button-quail (Turnix velox) which is slightly smaller, Red-chested Button-quail (Turnix pyrrhothorax) which have stout greyish bills and much shorter fleshy or pinkish legs without a hindtoe, bolder strips on upperparts, arranged in long parallel lines and more restricted markings on underparts and Stubble Quail (Coturnix pectoralis) which are larger and have bold white streaking arranged in long parallel lines on the upperparts and bold blackish streaking on the underparts and uniform pale grey-brown upperwing.
Notes
Unlike Button-quails the Plains-wanderer (Pedionomus torquatus) has a hind toe. It often adopts an upright posture, standing on tiptoe with long, slender neck upstretched, the long legs being obvious. The female is slightly larger than the male. Seldom seen by day.
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
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BirdLife International Species Factsheet