Quail?

[Gord]

I deliberated on where to put this. As I wonder if this is an exotic species of bird, it might be better for off-topic. But then I wonder if it's a Bobwhite Quail which would make it fit better. Ah well, either place would have been fine.

This little guy showed up on the porch of our old neighbor's place a couple evenings ago. They still had my number so called me up for advice on food and what it could be. Im not sure what it is. It isnt anything one would find here. Wonder how it got into a subdivision. It's obviously a young bird and it's rather tame. This could be because it was very hungry, young, raised by hand or some or all of these factors. Any ideas what it is? Feel free to forward this to others. Maybe people who raise poultry might know. When she described it over the phone I tried to imagine Yellow Rail... ;D ;D

[fouram]

Gord--this--I believe IS a quail--I am wracking my brain as to the type--it is ( I believe) generally raised for egg production--by the colour of the legs this is a hen that is an established layer--perhaps escaped?--Sheesh--I am reaching here--but I believe the name would be ---Coturnix Coturnix?---Al

[fouram]

However, it is quite a guess on my part, never having seen one except as I have mentioned--sitting on a nest, and not--rather wet looking--sure hope it is okay---Al

[Deleted]

Hi Gord and Al.

Gord's photo immediately brought to mind a species of quail we had really hoped to see in Arizona last August. It's Montezuma Quail, Cyrtonix montezumae. It has this typical round squat posture and the scattered "quills" sticking out all over, and the colouring resembles a female type (female or immature) although I was not able to find an illustration of an immature. Its typical response is to sit tight and trust its camouflage.

Montezuma Quail is a hard to find inhabitant of a couple of mountain ranges in southeastern Arizona. So the only way it could reasonably be expected to occur here would be as a release for hunting purposes or as an escapee from someone's collection of exotic species.

Google gets a similar looking widespread European quail, Coturnix coturnix, the one Al refers to, and I suspect it might be a more likely candidate for release or escape.

Like Al, I'm only guessing. But I agree with him that it certainly appears to be a quail and his species suggestion looks very reasonable.

Stan

[Gord]

Al and Stan, thanks for the thoughts! With the new direction, I looked into the two suggested species. We're certainly in the right genus here.

I looked on Google and came across a lot of quail in this genus that all look very similar! I imagine she will have to wait until this little one matures into adult plumage before we can go further.

Ill pass on the findings!

I read an interesting article here about New Zealand quail. The smaller quail in the picture looks very similar although it does not say what species it is. Im assuming it's an Australian Quail as mentioned in the article
www.wildlifeextra.com/zealand-quail.html

[Gord]

Looks like it is a European Quail according to someone who deals with exotic poultry.

How it got to where it did is a mystery.