Japanese Quail

How to identify

Field marks

1. Adults have mainly rufous feathers
2. Male has dark rufous cheeks and breast
3. Female has dark spots on the breast feathers
4. Male has reddish-brown throat during the breeding season

Male, female and young

The male has a dark rufous breast without dark spots, and some have a white collar; the female has dark spots on the breast and creamy cheeks.

Voice

The typical call begins with two short notes, followed by a long trill.

Similar species

Common Quail

Japanese Quail has darker, more contrasting upperparts and more reddish-brown underparts than Common Quail; the breeding male has reddish-brown throat feathers.

Where and when it's recorded

Busiest months: May · Most records: China, Russia, Mongolia

Japanese Quail has been recorded at 361 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 15 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

1. Muravyevka ParkRussia394 records
2. Nanpu MudflatChina226 records
3. Nanhui DongtanChina187 records

Countries and regions with the most records

ChinaRussiaMongoliaSouth KoreaJapanVietnamUnited StatesSingapore

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

The Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica), also known as the coturnix quail, is a species of Old World quail found in East Asia. First considered a subspecies of the common quail, it is now considered as a separate species. The Japanese quail has played an active role in the lives of humanity since the 12th century, and continues to play major roles in industry and scientific research.

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

Questions