Journalism of Courage
Quick, alert and sensitive, the Barred Buttonquail (Turnix suscitator) marks its presence with a loud call that sounds like a motorbike engine at a low pitch. Also called ‘Bater’ in Hindi, the Barred Buttonquail is a resident bird in the Inter-State Chandigarh Region (ISCR).
The males and females are different in shape and size. The Barred Buttonquail’s identification marks are rufous above, barring the breast and flanks, and a black throat and breast on the breeding female.
A resident bird, the Barred Buttonquail inhabits dense scrub grassland areas and places situated near agricultural lands. According to an ornithologist, these buttonquail species are unrelated to true quails and are distributed across India. They are also found in Pakistan, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Nepal.
The residential trans-Ghaggar sectors located near Ghaggar river in Panchkula, Haryana, houses hundreds of barred buttonquails.
One can easily spot these birds crossing the roads, running into the scrubs in vacant plots and chasing each other. The birds prefer to stay in pairs and move in flocks. Though it does not have a great flying capacity, its running speed is pretty good.
The birds breed throughout the year and lay 4-5 eggs at a time. The female buttonquail mates with many males and usually builds nests in grass and agriculture fields. The male incubates the eggs, a rarity among birds. The chicks are reared by the male Barred Buttonquail.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature puts this bird in the ‘least concern’ category.
