Wild quail a fail in Australia, but a winner in NZ
The males are particularly colourful, the female more plainly plumaged, and both have a quaint foward-arched crest.
In the 1880s, many were liberated in several parts of Australia, but it was only on King and Norfolk islands that they became established.
Those that were released near Melbourne, notably at Gembrook, didn’t survive.
Perhaps it was the abundance of foxes that prevented them from settling in, or maybe it was simply the wrong places that were chosen to release them.
Unlike Australia, acclimatisers in New Zealand had wonderful success — if the introduction of any non-native bird could be called “wonderful”. The first were taken to New Zealand in 1862 when two pairs were liberated near Auckland. That was just the start. In the next decade, hundreds more were released.
To assist the dispersal of the quail, many of the progeny of the free-flying birds were caught and moved.
The introduction was so successful that between 1878 and 1880, a huge market was established to export canned quail to Europe.
Presumably these were “farmed” birds, rather than shot in the wild, but hunting them also flourished.
Most of the quail released in Australia came from New Zealand, not from their Californian homeland.
In his wonderful book, Introduced Birds of the World, the late John L. Long traced the way Californian quail have been moved worldwide.
They are now found in Argentina, Chile, the Hawaiian Islands and parts of Canada.
Unsuccessful attempts were made to establish them in France, Tahiti and South Africa. Wildlife information and questions can be sent tp ppescott@gmail.com