Australian Bush Life

Painted Button-quail - Turnix varia. Recovering from shock in a quiet and dark place.

We recently had a Painted Button-quail, Turnix varia, crash into our windows. The bird hit hard and as it is quite a small bird this caused it to go into shock.

Whilst in this state of shock the quail was very vulnerable to any form of attack by a predator. Additionally the exposure to the cooler weather of the morning may increase the chance of death when in this state. As we have had another small bird - a Striated Pardalote crash into our windows before and die, we decided to pick the animal up and put it in a quiet space to let it recover from the shock. Click here for more information and tips on how to avoid birds striking your windows…

We placed the Painted Button-quail in a cardboard box on some clean rags for warmth, comfort and somewhere to hide. Closed the lid and just peeped in every 10 minutes to check it was going okay. After about half and hour the animal had perked back up. We could tell as it had become fully alert and was trying to get out of the box. This fiesty spirit is what it would need to survive in the bush. We were also able to give it a small drink of water and it drank another sign it was feeling a lot better. We released the bird in the exact location where we had found it and it immediately flew off to our relief.

Painted Button-quail - Turnix varia. Flew away immediately on release.

Like all quails the Painted Button-quail is a ground dwelling bird. It predominantly eats seeds and really enjoys the seeds of our indigenous grasses such as the Wallaby Grass, Kangaroo Grass and Weeping Grass. The indigenous grasses are also all tufting grasses and left un-mowed provide excellent habitat for birds like quails to hide amongst. We have noticed more quails than ever before after the recent bushfire as all our indigenous grasses have successfully regenerated in larger numbers than were originally found on our bushblock (pre-bushfire). The higher rainfall over the last year has also helped provide a bumper source of seed for the birds.

Another important habitat feature for ground dwelling birds such as quails to survive is to maintain a good ground cover of leaf litter, twigs and logs. This provides additional protection from predators particularly as quails build their nests on the ground. Without this ground cover and a good scattering of indigenous grasses it would be very difficult for quails to survive and breed and they would most likely become locally extinct in areas where these features are removed.

Feral predators particularly foxes and cats are also be a major threat to the Painted Button-quail. Additionally human activites can threaten quail survival such as straying pets (cats & dogs), and ”tidying up”; fuel reduction such as mowing & clearing up the leaf litter, twigs and logs. The “tidying up” of our bush particularly occurs and is promoted as a bushfire prevention method and is particularly disastrous to ground dwelling species that rely on these exact habitat features for their existence.

We choose to refrain from “tidying up”; mowing & clearing away the leaf litter, twigs and logs as we love to see these ground dwelling creatures survive. They are the reason we live on our bushblock and we refuse to turn our piece of paradise into a parkland with low biodiversity values just for the sake of a bushfire event that may or may not happen in the short or long term. This would be giving up on the wildlife that we get to live amongst every day for a single day that might not even be for another 30 years or more into the future (it was 48 years between the last 2 bushfires!). It would defeat all reason for living here in the bush amongst the wildlife.

What are your thoughts on “tidying up” as a bushfire prevention technique that can remove the exact habitat that the Painted Button-quail needs?

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