Buttonquail feast at Dunmore, Southern Queensland

Good numbers of Red-chested Buttonquail (above), Little Buttonquail, Painted Buttonquail and Stubble Quail were the order of the day (and night) during a visit to Dunmore Road in Western Creek State Forest, south of Cecil Plains on Queensland’s Darling Downs. A fair sprinkling of normally difficult or uncommon inland species for south-east Queensland were also present.

Toowoomba birder Tyde Bands uncovered this hotspot, which features extensive grassland bordering well-grassed woodland. It’s the best part of a 5-hour drive from the Sunshine Coast but all those buttonquail were hard to resist. I began exploring the grassland at 4pm, being joined soon after by Matt Hansen. During 2.5 hours, I or both of us saw a total of 5 Red-chested Buttonquail (above), 6 Little Buttonquail and 4 Stubble Quail in the grassland, and 1 Painted Buttonquail on the road (below).

Driving the road slowly at night failed to turn up any hoped-for buttonquail, as observers have sometimes encountered elsewhere. It may be that birds are attracted to roads only in special, well-defined circumstances. However we heard a couple of Red-chested Buttonquail and several Little Buttonquail both in the grassland and the woodland. We encountered an impressive Eastern Snapping (Wide-mouthed) Frog (below) along with a couple of Common Dunnarts. Another 10-15 Eastern Snapping Frogs were calling from inside burrows. Good numbers of frogs seen recently on the road at night here were not present.

During another 2.5-hour stint the next morning in the grassland, this time extending to other areas, a further 6 Red-chested Buttonquail were seen (totall 11 for the trip) along with 5 Little Buttonquail (total 11) and 6 Stubble Quail (total 10). Many more Stubble Quail were heard during both sessions. The quail and buttonquail were easily identifiable on the wing and their behaviour differed. Red-chested showed as quite or conspiciously rufous and the upperwing panels were evident; this species flew the furtherest when flushed, usually going a considerable distance before ditching. Little Buttonquail flew just a short distance and typically gave a distinctive short call as ithey did so; birds were much paler with their white underparts and “saddles”. Stubble Quail were considerably larger and bulkier; they looked uniform greyish above with clear streaking. I managed poor shots (below) of this species and none of Little Buttonquail. Several more Painted Buttonquail were seen and heard in the woodland.

Horsfield’s Bushlark was abundant in the grassland.

A classy act to follow the grassland forays was as many as 10 White-backed Swallows hanging about with Tree Martins in the woodland. This species was once regular in south-east Queensland but appears to be in decline.

In the same area were quite a few White-browed Woodswallows, including adults feeding youngsters. A single Masked Woodswallow was among them.

Diamond Dove, another species usually found well inland, seemed to be quite plentiful. Several Common Bronzewings were seen.

A few Plum-headed Finches(below) were about along with bigger numbers of Zebra Finches.

Hooded Robin was encountered a couple of times, and Jacky Winter was common.

A few Speckled Warblers were in the woodland.