Odontophoridae New World Quail
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Introduction
The throaty, whistled calls of New World quails are often our only clues to the presence of these energetic ground birds in woodland undergrowth across the Americas. With plumages in earthtones, accented in patterns of black and white and, in some species, a jaunty top-knot on the males, these species are always a pleasure to track down and observe. They are usually seen in groups; males and females remain with the offspring once they’ve become independent, forming large coveys in the fall. Recent molecular work has uncovered the fact that two species of fowl from Africa are actually much closer to these New World birds than to any other in Africa, and they are now included in this family.
Habitat
New World quails live in a wide variety of habitats, including northern hardwood forests, grassland, savanna, tropical rainforests, and arid scrublands. Most of the Neotropical species occupy forested habitats exclusively.
Diet and Foraging
The New World quails eat a large variety of foods, ranging from seeds, leaves, tubers, and fruits to insects. In northern species and those adapted to more arid environments, insects are only a small portion of the diet; however, they are important for all these species during breeding and the first few weeks of a chick’s life.
Breeding
The New World quails are monogamous with biparental care. The nests of many New World quail species consist of simple depressions in the ground lined with grasses, leaves, and other vegetation. Other species, such as the Montezuma Quail Cyrtonyx montezumae and some Odontophorus wood-quails, construct a domed nest with a side entrance, on the ground, made of leaves and other vegetation. Depending on the region, New World quails lay anywhere from 3 to 20 eggs; birds in more northerly habitats lay larger clutches. In some species females incubate most of the time; in others, both males and females incubate. Both the male and female assist in nest construction, especially in species that build a domed nest, and both parents brood their chicks. Incubation takes 16 to 30 days and the precocial chicks leave the nest shortly after hatching. Each parent leads them along, showing them food and acting as sentinels. The chicks can fly as soon as two weeks after hatching.
Conservation Status
Although many New World quail species are common in their respective ranges, 13 (37%) face some level of conservation concern (6 NT, 5 VU, 2 EN). Two species in particular, the endangered Gorgeted Wood-quail Ondontophorus strophium of Colombia and the vulnerable Bearded Tree-quail Dendrortyx barbatus of Mexico, inhabit very limited ranges of mountain forests in the Neotropics and are thus particularly sensitive to habitat alteration. Nahan’s Partridge Ptilopachus nahani is endangered as a result of hunting and habitat destruction in its central African rainforest range.
Systematics History
The taxonomic placement of the New World quails has been difficult to establish. Based on morphological characters, the New World quail were thought to belong within Phasianidae (Cracraft 1981, Dyke et al. 2003). In contrast, recent molecular phylogenetic studies consistently suggest that the New World quail are sister to all of the fowl now placed in Phasianidae (Dimcheff et al. 2002, Crowe et al. 2006, Cox et al. 2007, Hackett et al. 2008, Kimball & Braun 2008, Bonilla et al. 2010, Cohen et al. 2012, Kimball et al. 2011, Wang et al. 2013). Recent genetic work by Cohen et al. (2012) has found that two Old World fowl species, both in the genus Ptilopachus, are sister to the New World quails. We use the taxonomic arrangement suggested by Cohen et al. (2012), placing these two Old World partridges within Odontophoridae.
Conservation Status
Least Concern |
69.7%
|
---|---|
Near Threatened |
12.1%
|
Vulnerable |
12.1%
|
Endangered |
0%
|
Critically Endangered |
0%
|
Extinct in the Wild |
0%
|
Extinct |
0%
|
Not Evaluated |
0%
|
Data Deficient |
0%
|
Unknown |
6.1%
|
Data provided by IUCN (2023) Red List. More information