Banded quail facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Banded quail |
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Philortyx
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| Species: |
fasciatus
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The banded quail (Philortyx fasciatus) is a small bird that belongs to the family of quails. You can find this special bird only in Mexico. It lives in places like dry forests, bushy areas, and even high-up shrublands. Sometimes, it also lives in areas that used to be forests but are now changed.
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What Does the Banded Quail Look Like?
The banded quail is a brown bird that blends in well with its surroundings. It has a fairly long tail for a quail. On its head, it has a dark crest, which is like a small tuft of feathers. Its throat is light-colored, and the feathers under its tail have cool black and white stripes.
When they are young, baby quails have white streaks on their feathers. After about two or three months, they shed their old feathers and grow new ones. Their new feathers look a lot like the adults', but their face and throat are almost black. By the time they are four or five months old, they have their full adult feathers.
Where Does the Banded Quail Live?
The banded quail lives only in the western central part of Mexico. This means it is an endemic species, found nowhere else in the world! Its favorite places to live are dry, bushy areas with lots of shrubs. Sometimes, you might also see them in farm fields or pastures.
They are most common near the Balsas River. These birds can live anywhere from sea level up to about 1,800 meters (about 5,900 feet) high. They are also non-migratory, which means they stay in the same area all year round and do not fly to different places for winter or summer.
How Does the Banded Quail Behave?
Banded quails usually live on the ground. They often hang out in groups of about a dozen birds. Sometimes, you might even see bigger groups with up to thirty quails! They are quite shy and usually stay close to bushes or other places where they can hide.
If they get scared, they usually try to run away instead of flying. But if a whole group takes flight, they fly off in different directions. This can confuse any animal trying to catch them, like a predator.
These quails eat many different things. Their diet includes various seeds, as well as plant parts like tubers and buds. They also enjoy eating insects. When they have chicks, they eat even more insects to make sure their babies get enough protein.
Banded quails usually lay eggs between August and September. During mating season, the males use their head crest to show off to the females. A female quail usually lays about five eggs in a nest. The nest is made of grass and sometimes has a partial roof to keep the eggs safe. The eggs hatch after about twenty-two days.
What Is Its Conservation Status?
The banded quail lives in a large area, covering about 90,800 square kilometers (about 35,000 square miles). Experts believe there are between 50,000 and 500,000 banded quails in total. People do hunt these birds for food, but their numbers seem to be steady.
Because the population is stable and the bird does not face many other big threats, the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) has listed the banded quail as a species of "Least Concern" on its Red List of Threatened Species. This means they are not currently in danger of disappearing.
