The tawny-faced quail (''Rhynchortyx cinctus'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

in the family

Odontophoridae The New World quail are small birds, that despite their similar appearance and habits to the Old World quail, belong to a different family known as the Odontophoridae. In contrast, the Old World quail are in the Phasianidae family, sharing only ...

, the New World quail. It is found in

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

, and

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The tawny-faced quail is the only member of genus ''Rhynchortyx''. It has three subspecies, the nominate ''R. c. cinctus'', ''R. c. pudibundus'', and ''R. c. australis''.

Description

The tawny-faced quail is long. A male weighed and an unsexed individual . The adult male of the nominate subspecies has a reddish face with a black streak through the eye. Its crown and hindneck are dark brown; the back and rump are gray to brown with black streaks. Its throat and upper breast are gray while the rest of the undersides are tawny buff with some white between the legs. The nominate adult female has a similar pattern but is generally browner. Its crown and back are dark brown and the rump mottled brown and chestnut. The face and upper breast are reddish brown and the eyeline, chin, and throat white. The lower breast and belly are pale with black barring. ''R. c. pudibundus'' is paler overall and ''R. c. australis'' darker.Carroll, J. P., G. M. Kirwan, and P. F. D. Boesman (2020). Tawny-faced Quail (''Rhynchortyx cinctus''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.tafqua1.01 retrieved September 10, 2021

Distribution and habitat

The tawny-faced quail has a discontinuous range. The nominate subspecies is found in Costa Rica and Panama. ''R. c. pudibundus'' is found in northeastern Honduras and eastern Nicaragua. ''R. c. australis'' is found on the Pacific coasts of Colombia and far northern Ecuador. The species inhabits lowland

tropical forest Tropical forests are forested ecoregions with tropical climates – that is, land areas approximately bounded by the Tropic of Cancer, tropics of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn, Capricorn, but possibly affected by other factors such as prevailing ...

up to about of elevation. It is primarily terrestrial but roosts in trees and bushes near the ground.

Behavior

Feeding

The tawny-faced quail forages by pecking. Its diet has been recorded to include seeds, worms, and insects.

Breeding

The tawny-faced quail's breeding season includes March and April in Panama but has not been documented elsewhere. Little other information about its breeding

phenology Phenology is the study of periodic events in biological life cycles and how these are influenced by seasonal and interannual variations in climate, as well as habitat factors (such as elevation). Examples include the date of emergence of leav ...

has been published.

Vocalization

The tawny-faced quail's song is "a series of pure monotonous whistles followed by a series of whistles at a lower and/or higher pitch" and has been likened to that those of

tinamou Tinamous () are members of the order Tinamiformes (), and family Tinamidae (), divided into two distinct subfamily, subfamilies, containing 46 species found in Mexico, Central America, and South America. The word "tinamou" comes from the Carib la ...

s or

dove Columbidae is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with small heads, relatively short necks and slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. ...

s. The species is often vocal at dusk but also sings while roosting at night. Members of a covey keep in contact with soft peeping calls.

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

has assessed the tawny-faced quail as being near threatened. It is rather rare in much of its range, and " jor threats possibly include deforestation and hunting."

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1260944 tawny-faced quail tawny-faced quail Birds of Honduras Birds of Nicaragua Birds of Costa Rica Birds of El Chocó tawny-faced quail tawny-faced quail Taxonomy articles created by Polbot