Dendrortyx barbatus

The quail is 22-34 cm long; The male weighs 459 grams and the female 405 grams. It is a distinctive long-tailed quail with a similar sex in appearance, but the male is larger. The crown has a brown crest, and the head and neck are bluish-gray. The overall plumage is reddish brown with gray, black and white spots. The underbody is cinnamon-colored, the thighs mottled, the sides grayish brown, and the tail is black below with white tips. The most notable features are bright red eye rings, beak and leg claws, and brown irises.

Distribution is limited to the Sierra Madre and Sierra Madre de Oaxaca mountains in eastern Mexico.
It inhabits dense, moist pine forests, oaks, spruce, and secondary forests, which are often quite secluded. Prefers to live in shady coffee plantations and other agricultural habitats. Altitudes range from 900 to 3100 m above sea level, but are mostly confined to vegetation along streams and rivers, and these birds prefer to live close to riverbanks, often near small rivers.

The Bearded quail (Dendrortyx barbatus) is bearded Wood-partridge and has no bearded subspecies.

In 2009, the population was estimated to be less than 5,400. Veracruz and Queletaro have the largest numbers, thought to hold fewer than 3,000.

Listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) 2016 Red List of Threatened Species ver 3.1 - Vulnerable (VU).

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