Marbled Wood-quail
A species of Wood quails Scientific name : Odontophorus gujanensis Genus : Wood quails
Marbled Wood-quail, A species of Wood quails
Botanical name: Odontophorus gujanensis
Genus: Wood quails
Content
Description General Info
Photo By Nigel Voaden
Description
Adult marbled wood quails grow to a length of between 23 and 29 cm (9 and 11 in). The bill is stout and dark-coloured and the legs and feet are bluish-grey. The iris of the eye is brown and there is orange or red bare skin around the eye. The sexes are similar in appearance; the front of the crown and cheeks are reddish-brown and the dark brown, vermiculated feathers on the crown are ruffled to form a short, loose crest. The mantle and neck are greyish-brown, the back and wings are brown with black vermiculations and the rump and upper-tail coverts are indistinctly spotted with paler colour. The underparts are drab brown with some indistinct barring in buff and darker brown. Juvenile birds are similar in appearance to the adults but have reddish-orange bills and non-vermiculated, reddish-brown crests.
Size
29 cm
Feeding Habits
Marbled Wood-quail primarily feeds on a varied diet of insects, nuts, and various plant materials. It forages on the forest floor, using its feet to scratch and uncover food. Marbled Wood-quail exhibits a unique preference for certain seeds, showing specialized feeding behaviors adapted to its environment.
Habitat
The marbled Wood-quail primarily dwells in the dense undergrowth of humid lowland forests, a terrain characterized by high moisture levels that favor lush vegetation. These birds are also found in older secondary forests that have undergone regeneration after initial destruction. In agricultural landscapes, they utilize patches of forest amidst coffee plantations, exploiting the shelter and resources these fragmented areas provide. Broadly, their habitat spans across tropical zones with preference for regions supporting a thick forest canopy and underbrush.
Dite type
Granivorous
General Info
Distribution Area
The marbled wood quail has an extensive distribution in Central America and the northern part of South America. Its range extends from Costa Rica and Panama, where it is feared extinct, to Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, the Guianas and Brazil. It is a ground-dwelling bird, inhabiting the undergrowth in lowland rainforests and cloud forests, occurring at elevations of up to 900 m (3,000 ft) in Ecuador, 1,500 m (4,900 ft) in Colombia and 1,500 m (4,900 ft) in Venezuela.
Species Status
The total number of marbled wood quails are thought to be decreasing as their forest habitat in the Amazon basin is increasingly being cleared to provide grazing land for cattle and agricultural land for Soybean production. They are to some extent adaptable to living in secondary growth forest, but the increasing road network puts them at risk of increased hunting. The International Union for Conservation of Nature expects the population to dwindle by 25 to 30% over the next three generations of birds and has assessed their conservation status as being "near threatened".
Photo By Nigel Voaden