G’day all
The only Buff BBQ’s I’ve seen (a pair at Mt Mulligan in Aug 2004) were nearly trodden on by me before I saw them burst into flight from right beside me. The smaller male bird flew pretty much straight ahead & dropped about 20mtrs away, while the 2nd bird (huge female) flew ahead for a few mtrs & then curved left & back up the hill back past me & then dropped only 10mtrs from me. I tried to find her without moving toward where she had landed, but I had no luck whatsoever – after 10mins I decided to move slowly to where she landed, but there was no sign of her.
They seem are a very hard bird to observe once flushed, no doubt about that …!!
My good mate Adam Arnold (a very competent local birder), followed up my sighting a fortnight later & was fortunate enough to have both birds sighted clearly at the exact same spot from where I’d flushed them. He saw them before they burst & had a very good look at them – no photos were taken.
I guess this illustrates that the key would be to find where they are, then just sit & wait for them to approach – there seems little point in bashing country looking for them & hoping you will see them for a photo before they flush. With Richard’s, Tony’s & my observations in mind, it seems that they would be near impossible to find again immediately after flushing them – better to hit the same patch much later & just sit, wait & hope….
Cheers
Martin Cachard Cairns 0428 782 808
> From: pintado@ozemail.com.au > Date: Wed, 18 May 2011 22:31:13 +1000 > To: carlsclifford@gmail.com > CC: birding-aus@vicnet.net.au > Subject: [Birding-Aus] Buff-breasted Button-quail Pix – ask an aviculturalist > > Carl, > > I would be williing to bet the few dollars I have at my disposal that the reference you site in fact means Black-breasted Button-quail. These are far from unknown in captivity. Buff-breasteds are a different story. > > Reading Richard and Tony’s stories I’m reminded how ridiculously lucky I was with these birds. I wandered into the area in the late morning to do a bit of reconnaisance, intending to come back early the next day. I flushed a female Buff-breasted BQ within 15 minutes and, not surprisingly, could scarcely believe my eyes! I came back and repeated the trick for the next two days straight 🙂 > > At that time they hadn’t been seen for years. And apart from a sighting by Pete Lansley a few weeks later, not since. > > Andrew > =============================== > > To unsubscribe from this mailing list, > send the message: > unsubscribe > (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) > to: birding-aus-request@vicnet.net.au > > http://birding-aus.org > ===============================
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