The spotted buttonquail (''Turnix ocellatus'') 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

Turnicidae Buttonquail or hemipodes are members of a small family of birds, Turnicidae, which resemble, but are not closely related to, the quails of Phasianidae. They inhabit warm grasslands in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Australia. There are 18 species in ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

on the island of

Luzon Luzon ( , ) is the largest and most populous List of islands in the Philippines, island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the List of islands of the Philippines, Philippine archipelago, it is the economic and political ce ...

Description

EBird eBird is an online database of bird observations providing scientists, researchers and amateur naturalists with real-time data about bird distribution and abundance. Originally restricted to sightings from the Western Hemisphere, the project e ...

describes the bird as "A medium-sized ground bird of mixed habitat from the lowlands to the mountains of Luzon. Brown on the back with a strong checkered pattern, black spots on the wing, a rufous chest, and a speckled head. The throat is black in the female and white in the male. Similar to Small and Luzon Buttonquails but larger, with yellow legs and bill. Voice is a soft, low hooting typical of buttonquails." They exhibit

sexual dimorphism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where sexes of the same species exhibit different Morphology (biology), morphological characteristics, including characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most dioecy, di ...

in which males whiter heads with females having darker heads.

Ecology and behavior

Not much is known about its diet and breeding habits. It is presumed to feed on grass, seeds, young plant shoots and invertebrates. It has been recorded breeding in February to August. Females are

polyandrous Polyandry (; ) is a form of polygamy in which a woman takes two or more husbands at the same time. Polyandry is contrasted with polygyny, involving one male and two or more females. If a marriage involves a plural number of "husbands and wives ...

and mate with multiple males. Nest is a hole on the ground lined with leaves and sticks. Lays 2 to 4 white eggs with gray or purple speckles.

Habitat and conservation status

Its habitat is poorly known, but it is found in many habitat types such as brushy grassland, dry forest with bamboo, rice fields and gardens up to above sea level. IUCN has assessed this species as

Least-concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild ...

but the population may still be effected by urbanization and hunting.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1263986 spotted buttonquail Birds of Luzon Endemic birds of the Philippines spotted buttonquail Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxa named by Giovanni Antonio Scopoli