Mountain quail
| Mountain quail | ||||||||||||
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Mountain quail ( Oreortyx pictus ), male |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Oreortyx | ||||||||||||
| Baird , 1858 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Oreortyx pictus | ||||||||||||
| ( Douglas , 1829) |
The mountain quail ( Oreortyx pictus ) is a species of bird in the toothed quail family . It is the only species in the genus Oreortyx .
features
The bird has an average total length of 26 to 29 cm and a wingspan of 35 to 40 cm. Their weight is 230 to 292 g. Mountain quail have relatively short, rounded wings. You have a brown face and a gray, bluish chest.
distribution
The range of the mountain quail includes the North American west coast in the United States and Mexico from the state of Washington to Baja California . In the USA it occurs in the states of Washington, Oregon , California and Nevada , in Mexico only in Baja California . Bones found in caves also show an occurrence in New Mexico after the end of the last ice age. The mountain quail inhabits mixed forests, chaparrals and meadows in mountainous areas.
Reproduction
The female usually lays 9 to 10 eggs in a simple hollow hidden in the vegetation, often on the base of a tree or shrub. The breeding season lasts 21 to 25 days, usually incubated by the female and rarely by the male. The chicks flee the nest, they leave the nest with their parents within a few hours of hatching.
Tribal history
The genus Oreortyx emerged within the toothed quail family at least 6 million years ago and was therefore earlier than the genus Colinus . Subfossil finds from the Guadalupe Mountains in and the Shelter Cave in New Mexico with an age of around 10,000 years show the distribution of the species in this area after the end of the last ice age.
Subspecies
Five subspecies have been described:
- Oreortyx pictus confinis ( Anthony , 1889) - Native to the mountains of northern Baja California .
- Oreortyx pictus eremophilus ( Van Rossem , 1937) - The distribution area extends from the Sierra Nevada in southern California to the north of the Baja California peninsula and to the extreme southwest of Nevada .
- Oreortyx pictus pictus ( Douglas , 1829) - The nominate form is common from the Cascade Range in Washington state to the mountains on the coast of central California.
- Oreortyx pictus plumifer ( Gould , 1837) - Their habitat extends from the south of Washington State to western Nevada and central California
- Oreortyx pictus russelli ( Miller, AH , 1946) - This subspecies lives in the Little San Bernardino Mountains in Southern California.
Threat and protection
The mountain quail is currently classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) as “least concern” due to its large distribution area and stable populations .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Mountain quail ( Oreortyx pictus ) in the zoo animal list.
- ^ Robert M. Zink, Rachelle C. Blackwell: Molecular systematics of the Scaled Quail complex (genus Callipepla). Auk, 115, 2, pp. 394-403, 1998, JSTOR 4089198 , doi: 10.2307 / 4089198 ( sora.unm.edu PDF).
- ^ H. Howard, AH Miller: Bird remains from cave deposits in New Mexico. Condor, 35, pp. 15-18, 1933, JSTOR 1363460 , doi: 10.2307 / 1363460 ( sora.unm.edu PDF; 232 kB).
- ↑ IOC World Bird List Megapodes, guans, guineas & New World quail
- ^ Alfred Webster Anthony, p. 74.
- ^ Adriaan Joseph van Rossem, p. 22.
- ^ David Douglas, p. 143.
- ^ John Gould, plate 9 & text.
- ^ Alden Holmes Miller, p. 75.
- ↑ Oreortyx pictus in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2013. Posted by: Butchart, S. & Symes, A. (BirdLife International), 2012. Retrieved on October 11, 2013.
literature
- John P. Carroll: Mountain Quail. In: Josep del Hoyo , Andrew Elliott, Jordi Sargatal (eds.): Handbook of Birds of the World. Volume 2: New World Vultures to Guineafow. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona 1994, ISBN 84-87334-15-6 , p. 423.
- National Geographic Society : Field Guide to the Birds of North America. National Geographic, Washington DC 2002, ISBN 0-7922-6877-6 .
- David Allen Sibley : The Sibley Guide to Birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York 2000, ISBN 0-679-45122-6 .
- Alfred Webster Anthony: New Birds from Lower California and Mexico . In: Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences . Series 2, volume 2 , 1889, p. 73-82 ( biodiversitylibrary.org [accessed April 9, 2015]).
- Adriaan Joseph van Rossem: A Review of the Races of the Mountain Quail . In: The Condor . tape 39 , no. 1 , 1937, p. 20–24 (English, sora.unm.edu [PDF; 400 kB ; accessed on April 9, 2015]).
- Alden Holmes Miller: Endemic Birds of the Little San Bernardino Mountains, California . In: The Condor . tape 48 , no. 2 , 1946, p. 75–79 (English, sora.unm.edu [PDF; 369 kB ; accessed on April 9, 2015]).
- John Gould: Icones Avium; Or, Figures and Descriptions of New and Interesting Species of Birds from Various Parts of the Globe . tape 1 . Richard and John E. Taylor, London 1837 ( luna.ku.edu [accessed April 9, 2015]).
- David Douglas: Observations on some Species of the Genera Tetrao and Ortyx, natives of North America; with Descriptions of Four new Species of the former, and Two of the latter Genus . In: Transactions of the Linnean Society of London . tape 16 , no. 2 , 1828, p. 133-199 ( biodiversitylibrary.org [accessed April 9, 2015]).
Web links
- Oreortyx pictus in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2013. Posted by: Butchart, S. & Symes, A. (BirdLife International), 2012. Retrieved on October 11, 2013.