Stripe-faced wood quail facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Stripe-faced wood quail |
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Odontophorus (bird)
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| Species: |
balliviani
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The stripe-faced wood quail (Odontophorus balliviani) is a cool bird that lives in the forests of Bolivia and Peru. It's a type of New World quail, which means it's related to other quails found in North and South America. This bird gets its name from the unique stripes on its face.
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About the Stripe-faced Wood Quail
What's in a Name?
The stripe-faced wood quail's scientific name, balliviani, honors José Ballivián. He was the President of Bolivia when this bird was first named. This bird is considered "monotypic," which means it's the only species in its group.
How to Spot a Stripe-faced Wood Quail
The stripe-faced wood quail is about 26 to 28 cm (10 to 11 in) long. That's about the length of a ruler! Males usually weigh around 311 g (11.0 oz), and females are a bit heavier at 324 g (11.4 oz).
Males have a brown face with a patch of red skin around their eyes. They also have a black line right under their eyes. Their head and crest are a chestnut color with a buff-colored edge. The back and rump are brown with wavy black lines, like tiny worms. This pattern is called vermiculation.
The throat of the male is buff-colored with white streaks. Their chest and belly are brown with white spots shaped like diamonds. Females look similar to males, but their upper parts are a lighter brown. Their lower parts are more reddish-brown.
Where Do They Live?
You can find the stripe-faced wood quail on the eastern side of the Andes mountains. Specifically, they live in southeastern Peru, in areas like Cuzco and Puno Province. They also live in western Bolivia, in places like La Paz and Cochabamba Department.
These birds love to live in subtropical montane forests. These forests have lots of tree ferns, bamboos, and epiphytes. Epiphytes are plants that grow on other plants, like mosses or orchids. They live in both old, untouched forests (called primary forest) and younger forests that are growing back (called secondary forest). They also live in misty cloudforests.
Sometimes, you can find them in clearings, wet meadows, and even small valleys. They usually live at heights from 1,000 to 3,300 m (3,300 to 10,800 ft) above sea level. But sometimes, in Peru, they might be found as low as 800 m (2,600 ft).
Stripe-faced Wood Quail Behavior
What Do They Eat?
Scientists don't have much information about what the stripe-faced wood quail eats. We also don't know much about how they find their food.
Reproduction and Life Cycle
Not much is known about how the stripe-faced wood quail reproduces. We do know that males have been heard singing regularly during May in Bolivia. This singing might be part of their mating calls.
How Do They Communicate?
The stripe-faced wood quail has a special call to attract a mate. It sounds like a fast, repeated "whydlyi-i, whydlyi-i...." Both the male and female birds make this sound. They also have a harsh, rattling sound they use as an alarm call if they sense danger. Sometimes, they make chirping sounds, which seem to be how they keep in touch with each other.
Protecting the Stripe-faced Wood Quail
The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) says the stripe-faced wood quail is a species of "Least Concern." This means they are not currently in immediate danger of disappearing. However, we don't know exactly how many of these birds there are. Their numbers might be going down.
Some things that could threaten these birds include forests being cut down (deforestation). Also, cities growing bigger (urbanization) and more land being used for farming (agriculture) can take away their homes.
