Turnix sylvaticus
The Common, or Kurrichane, Buttonquail is a small ground bird inhabiting grasslands and savannas. In South Africa they’re to be found mainly in Kwazulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Gauteng, North West, the Free State and Kalahari regions of the Northern Cape. Their distribution range further extends over much of the rest of sub-Saharan Africa and through much of Asia from Pakistan to Taiwan, the Philippines and Indonesia. According to the IUCN the Common Buttonquail is of least concern. They live on an omnivorous diet of insects and seeds and are highly nomadic, moving around in response to good rainfall.
Common Buttonquails are usually seen singly or in pairs and breed during the rainy season. They are polyandrous, meaning that the female mates with several males in a season and leaves the incubation of the eggs and rearing of the chicks to them. It takes the male about 2 weeks to hatch the clutch of 2-4 eggs. The chicks leave the nest soon after hatching to wander around with their father, and are fully grown by the time they’re 4 weeks old. Adults weigh about 40g.
DeWetsWild 