Roshan Kamath

birders

Mangaluru

king quail

South India

Karnataka

first sighting

Arnold M Goveas,and Vivek Nayak,from, have been lucky to spot a, which is probably the first photographic record of the bird from. The birders are part of CoastalBirders Network.Arnold told TOI that since March 28 they have been sighting the king quail almost every day, on a small patch of thorny bush that has dried up at Kenjar near the Mangalore International Airport. Some miscreants have burnt a portion of the patch. The bird seems to be feeding on seed pods. King quail is a very tiny bird, which is slightly bigger than a new born chicken. King quail is a species of old world quail in the family Phasianidae. It is the smallest species of ‘true quail’, ranging in the wild from southeastern Asia to Oceania with nine different subspecies. “It is very difficult to spot. We found the bird when we were trying to take pictures of red munia that also feed on the same seed, when we accidentally spotted the bird. The bird appears to spend its time mostly in cover, amidst thick grass and shrubs, and seems to come out in the morning and evening to feed on the seeds. It was Roshan who first spotted the bird. We knew it was a different bird, and before we could get a good photograph, it flew away,” said Arnold.The trio then started looking out for the bird. They waited patiently and were lucky that the bird came back, and they have been able to identify the bird and upload the same on E-bird, an online database for bird observations. The team soon realised that they were very few sightings and fewer photographs of the king quail from India. Most of the sightings and pictures have been from Assam.Arnold explained, “The bird that we have sighted is a male and hence it was easy to identify. The female resembles the common quail. It’s a small bird but a beautiful one. Also known as the blue-breasted quail, its colours are attractive and distinctive. What is surprising is that it is a single bird and we suspect that the female or another bird might be around somewhere, as quails are usually found in pairs.”Roshan Kamath, a marine engineer—who is a regular birder— during his long vacations, suspected the presence of another bird, after he heard the bird call. “The habitat is perfect for quails and we had spotted the barred buttonquail in the past. I have also spotted another quail that is yet to be identified. The unidentified quail could be a common quail or a rain quail. This king quail is definitely theof the bird for the region,” he said.Last November, Vivek Nayak, a businessman and birder had captured the first definitive photograph of ortolan bunting in India from Mangaluru.Shivashankar M from the Coastal Karnataka Birders Network said, “Quails are very difficult to sight in the field, and this quail is even rarer to find. I am glad that regular birders at Mangaluru have managed to find it here and reported it in our network. Many birders from across India have come down to watch this individual.”