Field Guide
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Common Quail
Coturnix coturnix
Not yet photographed by the community
Tiny secretive game bird; liquid 'wet-my-lips' call.
Species Profile
Red List (breeding); Amber List (wintering/passage)
- Lifespan
- 2–3 years in the wild
- Size & Weight
- 16–18 cm, wingspan 32–35 cm; 70–100 g
- Habitat
- Open grassland, cereal crops, and cultivated farmland with sparse or low vegetation.
- UK Distribution
- Scarce summer breeder in southern England, with numbers fluctuating annually. Migratory, arriving April–May and departing by September, with occasional winter records.
- Diet
- Seeds, grain, and small insects and invertebrates, particularly during breeding season.
- Predators
- Sparrowhawks, kestrels, foxes, and ground predators such as stoats and weasels; eggs preyed upon by corvids and rats.
- Mating Season
- May to August
- Breeding
- Clutch size 8–12 eggs, incubation period 16–18 days, typically one brood per season. Chicks are precocial and fledge in 7–10 days.
- Behaviour
- Highly secretive and cryptic, with a distinctive monotonous three-note call ('wet-my-lips') used by males to establish territory. Largely nocturnal and terrestrial, reluctant to fly unless disturbed. Males are polygynous and do not assist with incubation or chick-rearing.
- •The Common Quail is the smallest game bird in the UK and one of the few migratory gamebirds in Europe.
- •Its distinctive territorial call can be heard from considerable distances across open farmland during spring and early summer.
- •UK breeding numbers are highly variable year-to-year, dependent on weather conditions in North African wintering grounds and spring migration routes.
- •Unlike other gamebirds, quails nest on the ground with minimal nest structure, relying entirely on camouflage for protection.
- •The species has declined significantly in the UK as a breeder due to agricultural intensification and the use of pesticides reducing invertebrate food sources.
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