The black-fronted wood quail (''Odontophorus atrifrons'') is a

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

species in the family

Odontophoridae The New World quail are small birds only distantly related to the Old World quail, but named for their similar appearance and habits. The American species are in their own family, the Odontophoridae, whereas Old World quail are in the pheasant f ...

, the New World quail. It is found in

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

and

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

Taxonomy and systematics

Some authors have suggested that the black-fronted wood quail and

gorgeted wood quail The rare gorgeted wood quail (''Odontophorus strophium'') is a small ground-dwelling bird. This tiny member of the New World quail family has been found in the larger oak forest remnants in the eastern Cordillera ( Serrania de Yariguies and NorA ...

(''Odontophorus strophium''),

Tacarcuna wood quail The Tacarcuna wood quail (''Odontophorus dialeucos'') is a species of bird in the family Odontophoridae, the New World quail. It is found in Colombia and Panama. Taxonomy and systematics Some authors have suggested that the Tarcarcuna wood ...

(''O. dialeucos''), Venezuelan wood quail (''O. columbianus''), and

black-breasted wood quail The black-breasted wood quail (''Odontophorus leucolaemus'') is a bird species in the family Odontophoridae. It is found in Costa Rica and Panama. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forest. Taxonomy The black-breaste ...

(''O. lecuolaemus'') are actually a single species, but this treatment has not been accepted by the major avian taxonomic systems.Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2021. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2021. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/ Retrieved August 25, 2021Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 24 August 2021. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved August 24, 2021HBW and BirdLife International (2020) ''Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world'' Version 5. Available at: http://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v5_Dec20.zip xls zipped 1 MBretrieved May 27, 2021 The black-fronted wood quail has three subspecies, the nominate ''O. a. atrifrons'', ''O. a. variegatus'', and ''O. a. navai''.

Description

The black-fronted wood quail is long. Males are estimated to weigh and females . Both sexes have a distinctive black forehead ("front"), face, and throat. Adult males of the nominate subspecies have a reddish brown crown, a gray back with black

vermiculation Vermiculation is a surface pattern of dense but irregular lines, so called from the Latin ''vermiculus'' meaning "little worm" because the shapes resemble worms, worm-casts, or worm tracks in mud or wet sand. The word may be used in a number of ...

, and a browner rump. The closed wing shows small white spots. Its breast is blackish brown. The adult female is similar but has more reddish underparts. The juvenile is similar to the female. ''O. a. variegatus'' has a larger area of black on the crown than the nominate, its back is browner with a more intricate pattern, and its wings and belly have cinnamon tones. ''O. a. navai'' also has a larger area of black on the crown and its body is drab dark brown with no reddish tones.Carroll, J. P., G. M. Kirwan, and C. J. Sharpe (2020). Black-fronted Wood-Quail (''Odontophorus atrifrons''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.bfwqua1.01 retrieved September 13, 2021

Distribution and habitat

The nominate subspecies of black-fronted wood quail is found in the

Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (English: ''Snow-Covered Mountain Range of Saint Martha'') is an isolated mountain range in northern Colombia, separate from the Andes range that runs through the north of the country. Reaching an elevation of ...

of northeastern Colombia. ''O. a. variegatus'' is found at the northern end of Colombia's eastern Andes. ''O. a. navai'' is found in

Serranía del Perijá The Serranía del Perijá, Cordillera de Perijá or Sierra de Perijá is a mountain range, an extension of the eastern Andean branch ( Cordillera Oriental), in northern South America, between Colombia and Venezuela Venezuela (; ), offici ...

, which straddles the Colombia-Venezuela border. The species inhabits the floor of tropical and subtropical

montane forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial f ...

, usually at elevations between but as low as in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta.

Behavior

Feeding

The black-fronted wood quail forages in coveys of up to 10 birds, scratching in leaf litter for insects and berries.

Breeding

The black-fronted wood quail's breeding season appears to span at least from May to August. One nest has been found; it was a bed of dried leaves and small sticks in a hollow in the ground and contained three eggs.

Vocalization

The black-fronted wood quail's advertising call is a "rhythmic, whistled, series" described as "bob-a-white". It also has a rattling call and "gabbling calls" among covey mates.

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

originally assessed the black-fronted wood quail as Near Threatened but has classed it as Vulnerable since 2000 "owing to its small range and population, both of which must be declining in response to habitat loss. The range is small and fragmented with recent records from only one area s of 2016"

References

External links

Black fronted WoodQuail - Odontophorus atrifrons
Video: L E Urueña & J A Borras.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1258916

black-fronted wood quail The black-fronted wood quail (''Odontophorus atrifrons'') is a bird species in the family Odontophoridae, the New World quail. It is found in Colombia and Venezuela. Taxonomy and systematics Some authors have suggested that the black-fronted ...

Birds of the Colombian Andes Birds of the Serranía del Perijá Birds of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot