Description:

Very small and plump, rufous brown streaked back and rufous breast with pale streaking. Male has black 'anchor' mark on throat (which may be lacking), and bull or rufous breast with pale streaking. Female lacks 'anchor' mark and has blackish spotting on buffish breast.

Distribution:

Historically common passage migrant through the central areas of Gilgit-Baltistan, but rare now. Prefers open habitats, including open grasslands, pastures, paddy stubbles and weedy waste areas, up to 3000m.

Behavior:

Very secretive. If flushed rises rapidly with whirring wing-beats and brief glides on downturned wings, plunging into cover again. In breeding areas males sing persistently. Opportunistic, eating mainly seeds of grasses, weeds and grain, but also buds, tubers, rhizomes, flowers and leaves. Also takes invertebrates from ground, beetles, bugs, ants, earwigs, grasshoppers, spiders, worms and molluscs.

Photo Gallery:

Range & Occurrence:

Resident Species

Summer Breeder

Winter Visitor

Passage Migrant

Distribution Map of Common Quail in Gilgit-Baltistan (Status: )

Seasonal Occurrence of Common Quail

Resources:

Birds of Pakistan: Helm Field Guides (R. Grimmett & T. Inskipp)
The Birds of Pakistan (T. J. Roberts)
Birds of the Indian Subcontinent (C. Inskipp, R. Grimmett & T. Inskipp)
Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide (P. Rasmussen & J. Anderton)
Birds of India: Collins Field Guide (N. Arlott)
Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan (S. Ali & S. D. Ripley)
Handbook of the Birds of the World (https://www.hbw.com)
The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World, 6th Edition
iNaturalist BoGB (inaturalist.org/projects/birds-of-gilgit-baltistan)
Birds of Gilgit-Baltistan (http://fb.me/birdsgb)

*Gallery images on this page are shared from flickr.com, and are copyrighted to their respective creators or owners.