Hello,
I would just like to get a young bird identified if possible.
The little one in the attached picture appeared in our yard a few days ago and does not appear old enough to fly yet. It does not appear sick or injured and has just been hiding around in our garden.
if anyone could help us out on an id that would be great.
thanks.
It looks like it could be a quail of some sort. In what area was it located?
M.M.
Thanks,
we were thinking it looked like a quail but figured how would one get into out brick fenced front yard.
So thought it could be something else.
We have just had a freind identify it as a japenese quail.
Thanks again.
It seems to match well the photo of a Japanese Quail I obtained by Googling <Japanese Quail>. By hiding out in your garden this quail is doing what quails do.
I strongly suspect this is an escapee, always a problem when people keep caged introduced birds - a problem because if they start breeding then they so often compete with native birds to the detriment of the latter.
Could I suggest that you ask around or even advertise in the found columns for the owner of an escapee Japanese Quail. The sooner this bird is behind wire the better.
No need to worry about this species becoming established in the wild, woko. they are a domesticated breed (for eggs/meat, occasional ornamental avicultural subject) and have lost incubation instincts by intensive selective breeding and one has to put the eggs in an artificial incubator to rear them!
Whew! That news is good news, zosterops - in relation to Japanese Quail at least.