Quail-plover (Ortyxelos meiffrenii)
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Quail-plover

Ortyxelos meiffrenii (Vieillot, 1819)

18 gWeight

The quail-plover, lark buttonquail or lark-plover (Ortyxelos meiffrenii) is a small ground-living bird in the buttonquail family Turnicidae that is found in the Sahel region of Africa and in a disjunct region of East Africa.

Most records: Niger, Kenya, Cameroon

Least Concern

Where and when it's recorded

Most records: Niger, Kenya, Cameroon

Quail-plover has been recorded at 8 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 4 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

  1. W National ParkNiger22 records
  2. Waza NPCameroon8 records
  3. Tsavo East NPKenya2 records
More places
  1. Tsavo East NP – Southern SectionKenya2 records
  2. Buffalo Springs NRKenya2 records
  3. Diawling National ParkMauritania1 record
  4. Tsavo West NP – Kilaguni LodgeKenya1 record
  5. Shaba NRKenya1 record

Countries and regions with the most records

NigerKenyaCameroonMauritania

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 quail-plover, lark buttonquail or lark-plover (Ortyxelos meiffrenii) is a small ground-living bird in the buttonquail family Turnicidae that is found in the Sahel region of Africa and in a disjunct region of East Africa. It is the only species placed in the genus Ortyxelos.

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

Questions

How big is the Quail-plover?

The Quail-plover weighs around 18 g.

Where does the Quail-plover live?

Its breeding range: Africa: Mauritania and Senegal to Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya. It is most often recorded in Niger, Kenya and Cameroon.

Is the Quail-plover endangered?

The IUCN Red List classifies the Quail-plover as Least Concern.

What does the Quail-plover eat?

Main food: Omnivore.

What family is the Quail-plover in?

It belongs to the family Buttonquail (Turnicidae), order Charadriiformes.

At a glance

Weight
18 g
Habitat
Grassland
Diet
Omnivore
Lifestyle
Active on the ground
Migration
Partial migrant
Conservation
Least Concern
More measurements
Wing
76 mm
Tail
35 mm
Bill
10 mm
Tarsus
18 mm

Averages from the AVONET dataset; length from field guides where available.

Range

Africa: Mauritania and Senegal to Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya

Breeding range, IOC World Bird List 15.2

Classification

Family
Buttonquail Turnicidae
Genus
Ortyxelos

More from the family Buttonquail

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Quail-plover

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Free to use with credit: “Illustration: Bird Album (birdalbum.com)”. Drawn by AI from a reference photo by markus lilje. ↗

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