Radio-tracking Revealed Home Ranges of Black-breasted Button-quail Turnix melanogaster in Remnant Vine Scrub between Hoop Pine Plantation and Agriculture

Abstract

Fifteen Black-breasted Button Quail Turnix melanogasterwere trapped and banded at three of ten trap stations in remnant vine forest between a young Hoop Pine Araucaria cunninghamii plantation and agricultural land. Eleven individuals were tagged with radio-transmitters. Four individuals yielded sufficient data for home range analysis. Home range estimates ranged from 2.2 to 6.1 ha. Home ranges overlapped considerably (both within and between sexes). One male was found on a nest incubating three eggs, located at the junction of two overlapping female territories. Another nest containing two eggs appeared to have been abandoned. Observed roosts were found among the buttress roots of larger trees in the vine forest; roosting positions changed across nights. Radio-tracked birds were found solely within Microphyll Vine Forest and sometimes within lantana thickets within the vine forest. No use was made of surrounding agricultural land or young hoop pine plantation, although elsewhere in the region birds have been observed in older hoop pine plantations and a closed eucalypt forest with a well developed understorey.