Indicators for Buff-breasted Button-quail Turnix olivii?

摘要

Endangered Buff-breasted Button-quail Turnix olivii are cryptic, shy, rare and somewhat difficult to locate. Observations from a site of occurrence provide potentially useful indicators for aiding location. The species occurred in low woodland on metamorphic hills dominated by Eucalyptus tardecidens with scattered E. cullenii and Corymbia clarksoniana, with a mid-canopy including Melaleuca stenostachya, Terminalia platyptera, Gardenia vilhelmii and Petalostigma pubescens and with a sparse shrub layer of Grewia retusifolia and Dodonaea physocarpa. Ground cover was estimated at 50 % or less with significant bare soil exposed. The Regional Ecosystem was R.E. 9.11.25. Forty-seven species of plant in 23 families were identified within this habitat. Twenty-nine plant species, including 17 species of grass (Family Poaceae) and one sedge (Family Cyperaceae), occurred in the ground layer. Most grasses were in seed. Cicadas and grasshoppers were abundant. These insects and presence of nutritious grass seeds from the grass genera of Eragrostis sp., Panicum sp. and Setaria sp., could feasibly constitute food items taken by Buff-breasted Button-quail. A low number of observed circular scrapes could have either been feeding platelets made by Buff-breasted Button-quails or resting locations.