A review of specimens of Buff-breasted Button-quail <i>Turnix olivii</i> suggests serious concern for its conservation outlook

Patrick, Patrick; Leseberg, Nicholas P.; Murphy, Stephen; Joseph, Leo; Watson, James

doi:10.1080/01584197.2022.2090962

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…This clutch was collected by J.P. Dwyer in 1947 and attributed to Buff-breasted Button-quail. As argued by Webster et al (2022b), this clutch, though labelled as Buff-breasted Button-quail, bears a strong resemblance to a Painted Button-quail clutch. This clutch requires DNA analysis to confirm its identity, which is currently underway.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

“…The northern range extension described here for the Painted Button-quail suggests that on Cape York Peninsula this species might have previously been misidentified as Buff-breasted Button-quail, especially given the previously undescribed, seasonal variation in plumage of Painted Button-quail in North Queensland (see Webster 2022). This potential confusion raises concerns for the conservation status, and indeed continued existence, of the Buff-breasted Button-quail (Webster et al 2022b).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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New records of Painted Button-quail Turnix varius in North Queensland suggest a distribution through southern and central Cape York Peninsula

Webster¹,

Leseberg²,

Murphy³

et al. 2022

AFO

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The current ornithological literature describes the Painted Button-quail Turnix varius having a distribution in Queensland that reaches its northern limit around Cooktown. North of Cooktown, the species is thought to be replaced by the Buff-breasted Button-quail T. olivii in savanna habitats of Cape York Peninsula. Here we present observations of Painted Button-quail at four locations throughout southern and central Cape York Peninsula, representing a northern range extension of at least ~150 km. Breeding was confirmed at one location. Whether these observations represent a recent northern expansion or a portion of their distribution that has until now been unrealised is uncertain. In addition, we present four skins and a clutch of eggs labelled as Painted Button-quail collected on Cape York Peninsula that have remained absent from current literature, although we argue that one specimen is inaccurate and the others need to be treated cautiously. This northern range extension for the Painted Button-quail has implications for reports of Buff-breasted Button-quail from Cape York Peninsula.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

New records of Painted Button-quail Turnix varius in North Queensland suggest a distribution through southern and central Cape York Peninsula

Webster¹,

Leseberg²,

Murphy³

et al. 2022

AFO

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“…The Buff-breasted Buttonquail is listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN (2022), and Endangered by the Australian environmental authorities (Mathieson & Smith 2009), remaining the only Australian bird species never photographed alive. Moreover, very recent research found that most probably all recent sightings should be better regarded as misidentifications with the commoner Painted Button quail (Webster et al 2022) and thus proposing to change its Australian legal status to Critically Endangered. Caledonian Buttonquail is listed as Critically Endangered (IUCN 2022).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prioritizing Conservation and Research Effort for Poorly Known Species: The Buttonquails (Turnicidae) as a Study Case

Gutiérrez‐Expósito

Clavero

Revilla

2023

Ardea

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Conservation status assessment of bird species is essential to prioritize conservation and monitoring efforts; however, this is not always possible to achieve due to lack of field data or scientific knowledge. In this context citizen science platforms can act as a data source to prioritize the conservation and research resources within a region or a given taxonomic group. Merging the available information on bird distribution areas from BirdLife International and field observations from eBird, the main citizen science birding app, we create a concern index, using the poorly known buttonquails (Turnicidae) as a case study. This concern index is based on two parameters: scarcity and uncertainty, which ultimately are based on two components, respectively. For every species, we defined scarcity as a combination of its frequency of occurrence (proportion of positive eBird checklists) and its relative range size, while uncertainty is a combination of the eBird effort (density of eBird checklists) and the range accuracy (proportion of positive eBird checklists within the BirdLife distribution area). We found a high correlation (Spearman r = 0.74) between our concern index and the IUCN threat categories for all buttonquail species. Then we apply this concern index to all buttonquail subspecies obtaining a ranked list for these non-assessed taxa, with some island endemic subspecies ranking very high together with the most endangered buttonquail species. Our approach is a very simple method to rank species within a given bird group and prioritize monitoring and conservation efforts. Moreover, it is also suitable for other taxonomic levels as subspecies or even for ecological units as populations, which normally lack a formal conservation status assessment.

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“…0.17 McLennan (1922) described the vocalisation of the Buff-breasted Buttonquail, from a specimen he later shot and collected (NMV-HLW5045), as "oomm, oomm, oomm repeatedly rapidly", a vague description that could describe a vocalisation similar to that of the Painted Button-quail, but could similarly describe a vocalisation more akin to that of the Chestnut-backed Button-quail. Given the extreme rarity of the Buff-breasted Button-quail and the apparent urgency to determine that species' conservation status (Webster et al 2022) The advertising oom call is the most readily detected of all vocalisations given by the Painted Button-quail. We believe that it is likely to be the most useful in detecting and identifying the species.…”

Section: Flat Whistlementioning

confidence: 99%

Descriptions of the vocalisations of the Painted Button-quail Turnix varius in North Queensland

Patrick¹,

Leseberg²,

Murphy³

et al. 2023

AFO

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The Painted Button-quail Turnix varius is a widespread and frequently encountered ground-dwelling bird endemic to Australia. Despite being regularly recorded throughout its distribution, our understanding of this species’ vocalisations is poor. Published accounts are limited to brief descriptions without quantitative analyses in a standardised format. This presents challenges in separating the vocalisations of this species from other similar species, particularly as vocalising button-quail are seldom observed. We recorded the vocalisations of Painted Button-quail from North Queensland. These vocalisations were identified as advertising ooms, drumming and contact calls. These vocalisation types appear analogous to those described for other button-quail species, though some key differences particularly in the advertising oom will likely prove diagnostic. Here we present descriptions and visual representations of each of these vocalisation types.

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A review of specimens of Buff-breasted Button-quail Turnix olivii suggests serious concern for its conservation outlook

Cited by 7 publications

References 20 publications

New records of Painted Button-quail Turnix varius in North Queensland suggest a distribution through southern and central Cape York Peninsula

New records of Painted Button-quail Turnix varius in North Queensland suggest a distribution through southern and central Cape York Peninsula

Prioritizing Conservation and Research Effort for Poorly Known Species: The Buttonquails (Turnicidae) as a Study Case

Descriptions of the vocalisations of the Painted Button-quail Turnix varius in North Queensland

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