Synoicus chinensis
Silhouette: Edwin Price · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5%
The king quail (Synoicus chinensis), also known as the Asian blue quail, blue-breasted quail, Chinese painted quail, button quail, or Chung-Chi, is a very small, diminutive galliform of the tribe Coturnicini in the subfamily Phasianinae. They are the smallest member in this subfamily and the family Phasianidae, as well as being the smallest and lightest member of the order Galliformes. It is quite common in aviculture worldwide, where it is sometimes referred to as the "button quail", although it is not closely related to the family of birds called buttonquails. Its voice is a piping whistle, ti-yu or ti-ti-yu. It also gives sharp cheeps or a tir-tir-tir sound when flushed.
King quail is 12–15 cm long, with a wingspan of about 25 cm long, and weighing 20–57 g. Males are distinctive, with a dark brown back and wings, dark blue-grey flanks and neck, and dark red-brown underparts; the face is patterned with a black chin with a white band just below on the upper throat, and black and white stripes below the eyes. Females are much plainer rufous-brown all over except for a paler belly.
They range in the wild from southern China, South and... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manas National Park | 🇮🇳 India |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Colombo [Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte] | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 2 | Singapore | 🇸🇬 Singapore | |
| 3 | Kolkata | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 4 | Kuala Lumpur | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 5 | Brisbane | 🇦🇺 Australia |
No species of the same family or order lives in Kolkata, so these are its closest relatives here: other birds.
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report an Asian Blue Quail sighting in Kolkata on a given day, based on 24 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 203rd most-seen of the 247 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report an Asian Blue Quail in Kolkata on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 3 and 6 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Asian Blue Quail sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 5 cities where we can rate Asian Blue Quail sightings, Kolkata ranks 3rd at under 5%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Colombo [Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte] (Sri Lanka, under 5%) and Singapore (Singapore, under 5%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Asian Blue Quail is recorded against all the birds logged in Kolkata (24 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
