The ocellated quail (''Cyrtonyx ocellatus'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

in the family

Odontophoridae The New World quail are small birds only distantly related to the Old World quail, but named for their similar appearance and habits. The American species are in their own family, the Odontophoridae, whereas Old World quail are in the pheasant f ...

, the New World quail. It is found in

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, and

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The ocellated quail shares genus ''Cyrtonyx'' with the

Montezuma quail The Montezuma quail (''Cyrtonyx montezumae'') is a stubby, secretive New World quail of Mexico and some nearby parts of the United States. It is also known as Mearns's quail, the harlequin quail (for the male's striking pattern), and the fool qu ...

(''C. montezumae''). It is

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

Description

The ocellated quail is long. Males weigh an estimated and females an estimated . The adult male's face has a black and white harlequin pattern. Its crown and nape are buffy brown to olive brown with a thick tawny crest on the rear of the crown. The throat is white with black stripes. Its upperparts are gray and brown with cinnamon stripes and black spots. The central breast is tawny cinnamon and its edges gray with cinnamon spots. The belly is a deeper cinnamon, the flanks gray with cinnamon scallops, and the vent area black. The female's face is buffy and black, the crest tawny, and the upperparts brown with buff lines. The breast and belly are wine red with black bars and spots.Eitniear, J. C., C. I. Rodríguez-Flores, C. A. Soberanes-González, and M. d. C. Arizmendi (2020). Ocellated Quail (''Cyrtonyx ocellatus''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.ocequa1.01 retrieved September 11, 2021

Distribution and habitat

The ocellated quail is or was found in far southern Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and possibly Nicaragua. Only in Guatemala have there been a significant number of sightings since the late 1900s, with none in El Salvador and in Nicaragua only a c. 1900 specimen and a few early 2000s sight records near the Honduran border. It inhabits shrubland and open pine and oak forest, generally between of elevation.

Behavior

Feeding

The ocellated quail is entirely terrestrial. It forages for tubers and roots by digging with its feet. Especially during the breeding season it also takes a variety of insects.

Breeding

Almost nothing is known about the ocellated quail's breeding

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

. In Guatemala it is reported to breed between April and August. The nest and eggs have not been described.

Vocalization

Though they have not been described in detail, the ocellated quail's vocalizations are similar to those of Montezuma quail. The male apparently sings "a single descending, buzzy whistle" and the female "a descending series of short notes".

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

has assessed the ocellated quail as Vulnerable. Its population is estimated at fewer than 10,000 individuals. The species "has been undergoing a rapid population decline over the past ten years as a result of increased demand for agricultural land due to human population increases, mining concessions in its stronghold of Guatemala and increased hunting pressure."

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1265587

ocellated quail The ocellated quail (''Cyrtonyx ocellatus'') is a species of bird in the family Odontophoridae, the New World quail. It is found in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua. Taxonomy and systematics The ocellated quail share ...

Birds of Mexico Birds of El Salvador Birds of Guatemala Birds of Honduras Birds of Nicaragua

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Central American pine–oak forests